When people ask me what my interests are, I say sports, marketing and social media. The first on the list usually needs to nice conversation about sports I like, athletes I cheer for (cough Andy Roddick is at the top of that list), and teams I like (GO BLUE! GO WINGS! GO LIONS!…just to name a few!). The second is pretty self-explanatory only because that’s what I’m studying in school at the Ross School of Business. 

But the third, social media, sometimes throws people off. “Social media?” they ask. Yes, social media. But I’ll always clear it up for them.

I don’t mean social media in the sense of updating Facebook statuses or tweeting what you ate for lunch.

I mean social media in the sense that I’m absolutely fascinated at the ability of sharing stories in multiple ways…in just seconds. In its simplest form, social media is just blogging. Micro-blogging in terms of Twitter, social-blogging in terms of Facebook, network-blogging in terms of LinkedIn.

I love being able to communicate with people that you normally don’t get to. Those people being celebrities, companies, recruiters, alumni of my school, stores, etc. I love that, as a student, I can find out more about the industries I’m interested in with just a view of their Twitter, or get the latest information of what’s going on around my school.

I like influencing my friends, peers, and other people to get involved with the social media movement. I like getting people interested on the benefits of social media and I try to tell them how to use it properly, about privacy settings and what I’ve gotten out of different social media outlets. I know that many of my friends will vouch that I’ve gotten them on Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and even a few to find out their Klout scores!

But my biggest interest comes in social media marketing. It’s amazing how influential social media has become for marketing now. Companies not having a Facebook and/or Twitter is a rarity these days. Product information comes out via these social media platforms now. Even customer service is done through them these days. The brilliance of social media is that everyone who is your fan or follower is interested in you in some way—or else why would they have liked your page or followed you? That in itself has already given you the target market. You can reach all of your followers with just 1 tweet. And all of your fans with just one post. It’s unbelievable if you think about it.

The thing is, social media is what YOU make of it. So make the most of it! Follow what you like, learn more about it, and then tell the world your opinions on it. Sharing is caring!

And so yes, that is why I love social media. Passionate about it.

—-Post originally written on March 4th as I competed for the Under Armour Ultimate intern team. This has been edited.