At this point in the digital age, basically all niche social media outlets have become picture books of our lives. The words are gone, no more anonymous blog posts or forum threads, we let photos tell our stories…which honestly, I absolutely prefer. There’s a reason I can’t keep a Facebook account active for longer than a month as of late, people take way too much of an advantage of having a 500+ audience to post an irrelevant ‘status’ to. Coming from a business perspective though, especially in the fitness and health industry, there really couldn’t be a more handy tool than having the freedom to post a magazine of your product (aka body) for all to see and be inspired by. But where is the line between self promotion and relying solely on your appearance for credibility?

The sexualization of fitness is never going away, I’m sorry (no I’m not) but if you honestly think that you have 10K or more followers on Instagram because of your ‘motivating’ attitude and not because of the provocative thoughts your sweaty pumped up muscles inspire in your pictures and videos, you are lying to yourself. EVEN if you have the most honest intentions in the world, people are going to objectify you and fantasize about way more than picking your brain over a cup of coffee on the benefits of fasted cardio. I am not exempt from this phenomenon either, I recently posted a photo of myself in a bikini and it has the most likes out of any photo on my page, literally the least important thing I have probably ever posted on my account received the absolute most attention…honestly, it’s kind of disheartening to me. I work extremely hard to find and promote valuable information to share on social media, the REAL stuff, the stuff that could change the future of our planet and children’s lives if enough people knew about and acted on it. But nobody gives a shit about that unless it’s attached to a picture of some #squatspo ass or ‘hot guy with a beard’ pic. When did a six pack, tattoos or a cool mustache become more interesting than minimizing greenhouse gas emissions? Hahaha, what the hell am I even saying? That sentence even sounds ludicrous to me and I genuinely feel it’s an injustice. Maybe if more of these types of folks used their ‘powers’ for good I’d have a little less to rant about…but if you don’t have any depth or character behind that smoking body or sweet beard, what is your worth, truly? What is your message? What do you stand for? If you have that kind of platform to reach TEN THOUSAND PEOPLE, 10,000! USE IT FOR SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR BODY. That’s all I’m saying. There is absolutely nothing wrong with working your ass off to reach and maintain a desirable appearance, and it’s so easy to be admired for that because it’s instant, people see you, they automatically think; motivated, strong, dedicated etc…which are all respectable things to be known for, but what if you poured 1/10th of the power of those adjectives into the Big Brothers Big Sister’s program? Or did a tour with Green Peace? Maybe you just start volunteering on weekends for a non-profit…think of the impact you could make. It’s incredible and immeasurable who or what you could inspire.

I firmly believe in taking full advantage of social media, on all platforms. But promote something meaningful at least. Be more than a pretty face, be a revolutionary for your own personal passions.