My last vacation was not what you would expect. I went to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic from August 27, 2023, to September 10, 2023. Sure, you could say it was a typical Punta Cana trip at a resort, with the unlimited food, booze, sun and pools, but this time (unlike other times), there was a little bit of magic mixed in.
The reason? I got MARRIED! That’s right, ya girl went and got hitched in another country! My HUSBAND (not used to that yet) and I decided that a wedding in Ottawa seemed a bit too cliché, and let’s be honest: we had just gotten a house. How in the world were we going to be able to afford a wedding with 300-some people in attendance? Me being Lebanese, it was a given that my own family would make up at least 200 of those people. So, we decided to save some money AND have a week with our closest loved ones in a hot sunny climate, where we had no worries, no plans the next day, and no time limit on our celebration.
It was a magical day, and a magical trip to say the least. We had over 60 people join us in Punta Cana, and we got to spend so much time with everyone. It really felt like a full week of celebration with all of our closest family and friends. I felt like a princess surrounded by those she loves!
After the beautiful ceremony, first dances, and food, I decided to leave my own reception for about an hour. When I came back, I had a different dress AND I cut my hair! Perks of having your mother as your hairdresser, amirite?
Basically, ceremony and part 1 of my reception: long hair, long dress. Part 2 of my reception (including dancing and oh-so-much drinking): short hair, short dress. Was it worth it? AB-SO-LUTE-LY. The look of shock on my friends’ faces was an experience I wish to relive!
That first week of my last vacation was the best week of my life. That was, until the second week of that trip, where my husband (still not used to it) and I decided to splurge on a fancier resort in the area for our honeymoon week! I mean, who wouldn’t want to wake up and walk up a couple steps to a private pool ON THE BEACH?
All in all, it was a fantastic trip. It was filled with love, laughter, joy, and new experiences, and I wouldn’t trade this feeling for the world.
I think I can confidently say that we’ve all had times when we don’t know where to start in a project or event planning and turned to social media for help. In fact, this has happened to be at LEAST a dozen times in the last week alone! As I plan my weddings (yes, plural, because we have grandparents who can’t travel), I realize I know nothing about planning such a big event like that – much less my own! So, to Google I went, looking for blogs, TikTok videos, YouTube DIYs, and really anything that could help me with this massive task.
A photo of my fiance and me last November – our engagement photoshoot!
I first came across a TikTok account called BTS Event Management, a company that specializes in wedding planning worldwide. On this account, I found inspiration for welcome boards, centrepieces, and general decorations I would want for my own wedding. Then, I came across another TikTok account called BySweetNothing, who specializes in wedding favours and wedding trinkets. This page gave me inspiration for my own wedding favours, for a DIY that I plan on gifting my bridesmaids on the day of my wedding, and on a gift I want to give my dad on that day as well. I mean, those “Mint To Be” mini tic tac packs? Yes, puh-lease.
Once I decided on the right DIY to gift my bridesmaids and maid of honour, I had to go to YouTube and learn how to embroider just so I could embroider their names and a few flowers on a small beach bag. I gotta say, once you get over how many times you stab yourself with the needle, it’s actually quite enjoyable and yields a beautiful result! Not to mention I’m pretty proud of the result.
My work-in-progress bridesmaid gift bags (2 out of 5!)
All this to say, social media really is your friend if you’re doing something you’ve never done before or want to learn something new – you just have to type and press “Enter.”
Have you learned something through social media? Did you find it easy?
Facebook: What’s one thing you learned through social media platforms that you’ve never done before? I’ll go first: https://bit.ly/3klgAxA
Twitter: What did #socialmedia teach you? My #blog explains my lessons here: https://bit.ly/3klgAxA
I woke up this morning to my social media going crazy because a gas leak had caused a quite large explosion near my parents’ neighbourhood in Orleans today at around 6:00 this morning. People were quick to post their doorbell camera coverage on a local community page on Facebook called Crime Spotting Orleans / Community Awareness. About an hour later, the city’s news networks published their articles but, by then, all the videos they included in their article had made their rounds in the community.
This is a good example of how most people are getting their news these days. Although this has been ongoing for years now, social media has grown into a main source of information and news for people around the world. According to Forbes, in 2018, 64.5% of web users get their news from social media platforms instead of news networks! We can only imagine how much that has changed within the last 5 years, especially given the pandemic that spread through the world and forced everyone to go on social media for any kind of human connection. A lot of the time, people know what’s happening before it’s shown on news networks! It’s become the norm to find news information on social media now and to share the news with networks and contacts in your community. In fact, according to this blog post, posted more recently, “62% of people who get news from social media sites like Facebook and Twitter said that the platforms had helped them become more informed about current events.” And this doesn’t even include platforms like Instagram and TikTok!
The same could go for celebrity news and deaths. For example, I found out that Betty White had passed through the TikTok video below (RIP). What a way to find out, right?
You never know what news you may come across when scrolling on your socials – but one thing’s for certain: you’ll always be informed no matter what. In the coming years, I think that news will continue to be spread through social media before they are scooped up by local, national, and international news sources. As social media evolves, I believe that so will the way we consume our news, whether it be good or bad.
What do you think social media’s role is in the future of consuming news? Do you think it’ll change much in the coming years, and how?
Facebook: How do you get your news? See how much social media can affect how we consume news in my latest blog post: https://bit.ly/3E6aS9D
Twitter: Do you get information before the local news? Click below to find out how #socialmedia affects how we consume news: https://bit.ly/3E6aS9D #blog
If you don’t know what Duolingo is, it’s a language-teaching application that can teach you many languages through daily lessons. If you don’t do a lesson, the app sends you reminders to keep you on track! But did you know that Duolingo, or more specifically, the Duolingo Owl Duo, has a TikTok account? This big, green owl mascot has almost 6 million followers and posts hilarious content almost daily. This content can be on many topics, ranging from language lessons (the Duolingo specialty), pop culture references, or even Duo’s crush on pop artist Dua Lipa! (I think it’s because of the name similarity, but don’t quote me on that one)
This page posts engaging content that makes me want to re-download the app and continue my Arabic lessons even though I’d get constant reminders to “do my lesson of the day.” In fact, these reminders were the topic of a viral trend on TikTok a few years ago: People used to receive so many notifications from the app, they started saying that if they don’t complete their Duolingo lessons, Duo the owl will find them and kidnap their family until they complete their lessons. How did the company respond to this trend? By leaning into it wholeheartedly and turning the joke into their new marketing campaign.
This is a comment taken directly from a TikTok on Duolingo’s account, in which Duo the owl says it’s on its way to “Spanish or Vanish you into doing your daily lesson.”
Using funny videos and staying on top of trends is how Duo the Owl got its notoriety on the popular app, and in my opinion, having funny, relatable, relevant content like this can really make or break your social media success! By staying ahead of the game and allowing for a more light-hearted and lenient theme in social media content, Duolingo has raised the bar for company social media accounts. For actual success on social media accounts, companies now have to “toe the line” in what is work-appropriate and what isn’t. They have to be more personable, more relatable, and less “corporate” in their language and in their engagement with their followers.
Do you follow an account that posts like Duolingo? What do you think about social media success using more “risqué” content?
FACEBOOK: Duolingo wants to know if you’ve done your lesson today…it also wants you to follow its TikTok account! Check out what kind of content they post in my new blog post! https://bit.ly/3XNzFag
TWITTER: #ICYMI #Duolingo is more than a language-learning app now. Check out what they post on TikTok thru my #blog https://bit.ly/3XNzFag
Social media platforms like Facebook and Whatsapp were a big part of my childhood because it was how my parents stayed close to their families and friends in Lebanon. I remember seeing my mom chatting away on the computer (before she had a phone that could do all that “tech stuff,” as she puts it) and telling her sisters how life was in Canada. Because our trips to my parents’ home country were rare due to the cost, they relied on social media to keep in contact with their loved ones.
A photo of a Lebanese beach from my last trip there, in 2015.
Nowadays, I hear my mom on the phone with her three sisters every morning, catching up on life events, how my cousins are doing, and whether they need us to send them anything from Canada that they don’t have in Lebanon because we heard that a friend’s brother-in-law was going for a visit (most of the time, the answer to that question includes peanut butter). It helped our whole family feel more connected than ever, despite being thousands of miles apart. As the daughter of immigrants, it’s almost essential to maintain that connection to your “homeland.”
Social media has helped millions of people stay connected during the COVID-19 pandemic as well. When the world was turned upside down by social distancing rules and limits on social gatherings, social media came to the rescue to keep people connected. According to an article written by Natalie Bazarova, Ph.D., for Psychology Today, social media “can give people a sense of normalcy […] by helping them to stay connected with one another even when being physically isolated.” During the pandemic, social media was key for me and my friends because we had to go from seeing each other twice a week to not at all, for almost a year. So, we created online game nights, where we would all connect to an online game site, have a “wine of the night,” and set up a video call at the same time! With another of my friends, we would have video calls once or twice a week and talk about what new hobby we picked up that week (FYI, we picked up a LOT of new hobbies). On a sadder side of things, video calling on Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger allowed me and my family to say our final goodbyes to both my grandmothers, who we couldn’t see due to, in one case, COVID-19 restrictions, and in the other case, distance. Having that option to say our goodbyes was one of the best things we could have had during such a difficult time, and I will forever be grateful for it.
I also find social media extremely useful in keeping in touch with friends I have made during trips around the world, or exchange students in university. For example, because of Whatsapp, I have kept in touch with an amazing Spanish friend, who I’ve only seen once since her departure in 2015, as well as all my family members still living in Lebanon. I also found out I had cousins living in Australia because of social media!
Me and my friend Mariona at the Barcelona airport in January 2020, which is the last time I saw her.
In another article, this time written by Anna Noel Taylor for Paramount Insights, Anna writes that “social media addresses many of our core human needs.” In this case, those needs include social interaction! As someone with many connections, not just in Canada but around the globe, social media has enabled me to continue my social life without always leaving the comfort of my own home. Not to mention, I also met my hubby-to-be on a dating app (yes, they actually work – thanks Tinder)!
All this to say, I’m so beyond thankful for social media tools because they allow me to keep in touch with people I really care about, and helps me meet new people.
How has social media helped you connect with others? Do you have a similar experience with social media?
Facebook: Curious to know how social media can impact your social life, and how it has impacted mine? In my new blog post, I talk about the moments social media has helped me connect with those I care about when physical connection isn’t possible: https://algonquincollegesocialmedia.wordpress.com/?p=128466
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 