Mini-Series: What 'Never Have I Ever' can teach us about Social Media
Created by Mindy Kaling (you’ll know her from The Office AND The Mindy Project, amongst heaps of others), Never Have I Ever follows the story of Devi, a Tamil Indian American high school girl living in California. After her father passes away, Devi loses the use of her legs for three months. The following year, she tries to deal with her grief, Indian identity and school life, whilst also struggling with her relationship with her mother, her beautiful cousin, Kamala , her two best friends, Eleanor and Fabiola, her high school crush, Paxton, and her nemesis, Ben. Not only does the story beautifully unfold over the 10 episodes, Never Have I Ever also showcases a diverse cast in a truly authentic and captivating way, and to top it all off, is narrated by non-other than John McEnroe, featuring our fav Andy Samberg. If you haven’t watched it yet, yes, you will laugh, cringe, fall in love, and cry over the four and a half hours it’ll take to get through the season, and I promise you’ll enjoy every minute!
One of the driving themes of Never Have I Ever is the struggle with identity. Devi spends the season struggling to know and show who she is, particularly with the added obstacles of her background and culture, and also being right in the middle of high school. But we watch as she tries to be someone she’s not, lies about things to be considered ‘cool’ (which only backfires, of course), and gradually pushes people away as she continues to struggle with her identity and purpose. She ends up coming to the realisation that embracing who she is not only helps her find love (from her friends, family and unexpected crush), but also helps her move through her grief and find her place in high school’s hierarchy.
Embrace. Who. You. Are.
You’ll find resources and online courses and blog posts and podcasts and everything in between, telling you what you should and shouldn’t post, what types of content to post to get engagement, and what to steer clear of if you want more followers. What all of these fail to tell you is that, above all, transparency, and being clear about who you are (as an individual, as a business, as an entrepreneur), and showing that in an authentic way is ultimately what social media is all about. Social media is about being social, and, like Devi, if you pretend to be someone you’re not, people will pick up on it pretty quick and you’ll end up with no followers, and probably get attacked by a coyote. Just sayin’.
But HOW do you embrace who you are on social media? Here’s some tips:
Show your face. I know, we’re in iso at the moment, and no one’s put on makeup or washed their hair for about 7 weeks now. But remember, no one has put on makeup or washed their hair for 7 weeks now. No one is expecting you to look like Meghan Markle, and no one is expecting you to spend hours getting ready for your 30 second Instagram story. Showing your face and embracing you means showing everything that you are. Embrace the fact that you’ve just finished a workout, and you might be a bit flushed and sweaty but YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY and the world will listen! Embrace that fact that you have been sitting on the couch for the entire day, and have only gotten up to pour more cereal in your bowl, but YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY and the world will listen. Showing up, in your rawest most authentic form, means that your Instagram feed will be less of a highlights reel and more of a showcase of you. People will connect with you more than your highlights reel any day of the week.
Be transparent. Are you struggling? Share it! Your followers value the fact that you, too, have struggles that are just like theirs. Are you excited about a launch, a new blog, or your online shopping that just arrived? Share it! Chances are, if your followers are the right followers, they’ll be more excited about it than you (also please share what you go in the mail - we ALL want to see it!). Are you finally pouring a G+T because it’s midday on Thursday and you’re so ready for it to be the weekend? Share it! Challenge your followers to join you, show off the delicious concoction you’re making, and tell us about what goals you’re setting for Friday so that your weekend can be as relaxing as heck!
Embrace your background, your story, and your journey. YOU know how you got into business, because you lived it. Chances are, though, your audience has only been on the ride with you for a couple of years (maybe not even that) and they’ve never even heard of the story of how you got here. You can learn a lot when you retell your story, but your followers can learn a lot as well. Maybe there’s someone who has been following you, who is exactly where you were 4 years ago - she’s looking for a career change or wants to get out of corporate, but has no idea how to approach it. Sharing your story may just pave the way for her to do the same thing. Maybe there’s someone who has been following you who is from the same cultural or religious background as you, and he’s been wanting to do something different but is afraid of how it could play out. Sharing your story may just show him that there’s ways to embrace your background and still step out of your expected path and achieve what you’ve always wanted to achieve. Embracing your story could empower someone else to embrace theirs.
So, if you’re struggling with what to post on your feed or how to show up in your stories this week, consider this a challenge. Be yourself, and show who you are by embracing your journey and being transparent! People will love it, I promise.
