Every morning, I wake up bright and early at seven, and the first thing I do is grab my phone and tune into my beloved Twitch streaming app. As a passionate fan and participant in the chat, I enjoy the live content of my favorite creators. Discord is another app I open to check for daily announcements and connect with others and the streamers before tuning in. It is always a great way to jumpstart my mornings.

Of course, I’m not just a one-app person, so I am unsatisfied with a single outlet for all my daily browsing. I’m a social media butterfly who flits from one platform to another throughout the day. My daily digital haunts include Facebook when I want to see what my family is up to. Instagram for when I need inspiration for upcoming projects.  I’ll check into X, formerly known as Twitter, for up-to-date news and what’s happening in the world. If my Twitch streamers aren’t available, I will scroll through TikTok or YouTube. However, out of all of these platforms, if I had to choose just one, it would be Twitch. Why, you ask? Because the engagement with followers is unparalleled, and the content is catered to my interests, providing me with more autonomy when choosing what I want to watch or be exposed to.

Now, I’m not going to lie; social media isn’t perfect. Sometimes, I’ll come across content that doesn’t interest me, and other times, I’ll stumble upon something that violates the site’s policies. Still, I try to take the good with the bad and focus on the positive aspects of social media.

When it comes to shopping, I’m all about those discounts! I get bombarded with newsletters and notifications from almost every site I shop with or visit, but I tend to ignore most of them. The ones that catch my eye are the ones that offer cost savings on items I use daily or new product launches from my favorite brands. With new advances in search engines and algorithms, I am more likely to click on suggested ads or content based on the data collected from my searches or past purchases.

As a millennial born in 1989, I’ve seen the world of advertising evolve throughout the years. I’ve watched it shift from newspapers and television to social media, with interactive ads encouraging feedback and engagement. Now, I’m all about relatable, direct messages that don’t feel like a sales pitch, which I think is the new focus of digital marketing today.