Social Media Integrity Blog, Episode 4: Somya Bhagwagar

Somya Bhagwagar has just graduated from University of Michigan’s School of Information with a Bachelor of Science in Information and double minor in Science, Technology, and Society and Business Administration. She combined her interests of storytelling, photography, and information security to create the @studentsofumich Instagram and Facebook blog. This platform allows students at U-M to share their journeys and engage in raw, uncensored conversation.

Somya, can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your Instagram blog, @studentsofumich?

@studentsofumich is a storytelling platform on Facebook and Instagram. It allows me to engage in deeper conversation by emulating Brandon Stanton’s blogging methods from @humansofny. I can document and voice students’ journeys as they chase their passions and become enmeshed in university life.

I’m a graduated senior from the School of Information, and I focused on social media analysis. I’ve always had two niche interests: storytelling and information security. And this project allowed me to combine both of them. 

Since the @studentsofumich was inspired by the @humansofny account, what gave you the idea to translate this account to our university setting? Did you have a specific vision when you began the account?

When I created it, it was a really spur-of-the-moment decision. I had been thinking about it for maybe a week and hadn’t thought too much in depth. It was one of those moments where you’re like, “Why not? What’s the worst that can happen?”

I didn’t have a vision at all. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I thought that maybe it would just be something where I would take photos of people and document their stories and maybe have like 10 followers. And as it started to pick up, I started to gain a little bit more of a vision. It shaped me and I was shaping it. 

At first it was just my way to meet students at this university, to get a little bit out of my comfort zone. I got into the School of Information, and I started seeing the point of storytelling. Then it became more of a way that I could give people a perspective that they’d never heard before.

What ways do you believe that social media has been an equalizing platform in terms of expression and in terms of storytelling?

I actually don’t know that I would consider it to be an equalizing platform. As of now, I think it has a tendency to amplify whatever divide exists in the physical realm. It does equalize to an extent where, if I post on a blog maybe someone in Africa can read it or maybe someone in India can read it. In the sense of storytelling, it’s equalized.

But back when we first hit that era of information overload and we started needing to prioritize certain messages due to their “relevance” or “importance,” we started categorizing certain messages as “more important” or “more relevant.” Then we start applying the algorithms and filter bubbles and echo chambers, which now prohibit us from getting that diverse source of information that we at one point had—whether it’s for the good or the bad.

I go on the internet and I think I’m listening and I’m seeing people from all around the world, but I’m also only seeing what the algorithm or companies [such as Twitter and Facebook] want me to see. So, in a sense, I don’t even know what I’m actually seeing or why it’s chosen and specified toward my taste.

Do you think that in some ways, the student account was used to try to combat some of that?

Yeah, I think it was. I do think that it kind of fell into that a little bit. I act as a filtering mechanism to some extent because I am human, I have my own implicit biases. I have my own implicit, values, judgments, things like that. And I’m the one who’s guiding the conversation. 

I was hoping that the account itself would inspire people to take on the viewpoint of “there are multiple sides to the story.” At the very least, maybe give people a perspective that they’d never heard before and take people out of their comfort zone just by reading it. 

Do you think that there’s a difference between listening to a story and telling the story? 

They’re a very primal form of communication. Our artistic expressions tend to be very authentic. And they’re effective because they allow us to connect emotion to information. And when you’re actively listening and engaged in a story, your brainwaves literally become in sync with the storytellers—which I think is so cool.

From a psychoanalytic point of view, stories are cathartic. Just the process of listening to a story or telling a story can help allow emotions to resurface. And then from a sociocognitive perspective, storytelling can empower individuals. It allows them to find commonality, validation, and perhaps inspiration from other people.

Both allow a lot of introspection. I think that obviously they come at it from different points of view—listening to and telling a story. 

How have you been able to become more comfortable as you listen to really difficult stories?

A lot of it is actually just embracing the discomfort. I found that there is a really big power in being able to embrace discomfort. I can’t even explain it, but even the ability to go up to people who I’ve always wanted to talk to and introduce myself and just start a conversation, or go compliment someone who I’m not close with. It’s such a huge mental barrier for people. I’ve definitely just gotten a lot more out of my comfort zone, and I’ve gotten to see a lot more diverse perspectives that way.

Do you know if any of the stories that you posted were the first time that people shared them?

Yes. Last March I did the sexual awareness and sexual assault series, and that was a lot of people’s first times ever sharing. That was a really, really intimate and emotional series.

I had just finished my #herengineering project at the time, which was a photo series that I did for the College of Engineering. I had a really good mentor, and that was when I realized that I wanted to embrace discomfort. So it came right after that, which was perfect timing. I decided I want to take this concept of embracing discomfort and get more taboo topics and reach the depths of emotion with my stories. So I was prepared. I want to do this. 

Did you typically meet with everyone in person as they shared their stories? 

The way that I did it was I always took the photos myself and if I didn’t I would give photo creds. And I don’t record it at all: I would just type as fast as they were speaking. Then at the end, I would give them my phone and I would say, “You can edit, delete, change, do whatever you want.” They could take it and read it on their own. I told them they could change it at any time. Essentially, I want it to be completely in their own words. I don’t want to be speaking for them. I want them to be speaking and me just providing the platform.

How did you decide who got featured on the account? 

It was pretty random when I first started. My freshman year I got people who were close to me, as close as someone can be during your freshman year of college. As it started picking up followers about 20 percent of the people that are featured DMed me first and asked to be on. Then the other  80 percent are completely random. I started DMing people randomly and tried not to look at their account first. I try not to go in with any preexisting stereotypes or things that I think that they should talk about. I want it to be completely their choice, and I don’t want to have any bias in terms of swaying the conversation to what I think would be “good” to talk about.

As I got more advanced, I tried not to feature people I already knew because I had a bias of what I thought that they could talk about. When I had a friend nominated to be featured, I had that preexisting notion of what I thought she should be talking about, because she had had a sorority on campus that she started, and that’s pretty much what she’s known for. And we, of course, started talking about that. Then halfway through I was like, this is a story that everyone knows. I know this story. I wondered if we could go a different direction. I paused and I just turned to her and I was like, “Oh, what’s that tattoo on you?” And then the topic changed completely. We had this whole new story that I didn’t even know about her: the story behind her tattoo. It was really significant to her because it was an Arabic word that represented land she called home in Lebanon. She had a lot of memories with her father there before he passed on. We got into talking about her memories of her family’s home and talking about war and her father. It got very intimate right after that.

That was when I realized: this is the story that she needed to talk about, not the other one. I realized that’s the bias that I have. If I go in knowing what someone’s going to talk about, then there could be another story which they’d be better talking about.

This kind of sounds ironic, but the people who I haven’t met before, I definitely get into a more intimate setting with. I think that there’s a weird layer of trust knowing that you’re talking to a completely random person who’s not going to judge you. You’re never going to see them again. There’s no other repercussions, you might as well spill. Whereas if it’s a friend, you’re going to see her again later. It might be awkward. But if a friend or if anyone ever has a story that they wanted to share it, I’ve always shared it, even if I do know them.

Have you found any similar qualities among the courageous individuals who shared such intimate stories? 

I feel like the only commonality that I can find is that they’re all human.

I think that anyone has the power to tell these stories. It’s whether or not you can create the environment for them to tell it. I’ve definitely noticed when I’m talking to someone, I need to be fully mentally present and mindful to be able to connect.

As I was saying, you can mentally connect with other people and your brainwaves become in sync with the storyteller. So, if my brainwaves are not in sync, we’ve already lost that connection right there. It’s partially on me for creating that environment and partially on them for feeling comfortable and building that trust. And I do whatever I can on my behalf to make it as good or as calming as possible.

How has this account helped build human connection and community through social media? 

It’s definitely had an impact from what I can tell, especially with people sharing their stories then getting a lot of positive feedback and reinforcement. I’m thinking of a kid who was afraid to come out to his parents and a lot of people had really encouraging stories and comments. I thought that was really beautiful.

And it’s definitely motivating for other people to see. There was one, it was a long time ago, and it was about a girl who was joking when she was five. She covered herself in butter and remembered the childish mind she had. That one actually stuck out to me a lot because I would never put myself in butter anymore. That child of me is lost. Even the really funny ones stick out and I think those have a greater impact than people realize. After listening to that story, I thought I should think about doing something of similar mental strength. 

Do you think that the more followers the account gained has helped people become willing to share their own stories?

Part of me thinks, number one: it can be more intimidating for people to share their story. Number two: it could be more encouraging. If people want their story to be shared and it could be a one-time thing that is broadcast.

I’m also curious as to how the algorithms play into that with the more followers that I have. Is it only being shown to a certain amount of people? I do think that it gets a little bit out of my control as the followers increase. It could be beneficial or it could be less beneficial, depending on how you look at it.

As you’ve mentally traveled through each of these people’s stories, in what ways has it affected you?

It’s hard to define. I gained a lot of inner strength from this. When I created the account, I didn’t think much of it; I was a freshman just finding myself. And this account really helped me. 

It let me explore different ways of thinking, choose who I wanted to be, and create the story that I really wanted for myself. You can even see the transformation through the stories, kind of as we talked about, as I was navigating the different parts of my life, and connecting with people at different levels. And, I think that this blog definitely helps me learn to love others and see all sides of the story.

It also let me fall in love with myself a little bit more. I know that sounds really cheesy, but it really did give me confidence. Being mindful in that head space and being able to connect with someone else helped me reconnect with myself.

If you could pick out a few, what do you think were some of the most inspiring, interesting, even random stories that have stuck with you?

I don’t know that I could pick the most inspiring, because obviously all of them are inspiring in their own way. I do remember there was one person who I was interviewing and she originally wanted to talk about how she found it difficult to market herself at career fairs. And I knew this was not our story. But we started talking and 20 minutes later, we were talking about her story of being drugged in a bar. The stark contrast between the two in only 20 minutes and we had just met.

That was a really impactful time for me. Not just the story, but the fact that the conversation transformed so much. I was able to gain her trust and was able to convert from something that was fairly self-guarded to something that was very, very vulnerable. I left that conversation with emotional fulfillment. That was a really memorable moment for me.

We were in Espresso Royale on South University and she was crying in front of me. This was right after the time I learned to embrace discomfort, which was what allowed us to get to that point. If you had talked to me freshman year, or if someone was crying in front of me, I would have immediately just tried calming them down and shutting the story down. But this time I was genuinely capturing the height of her emotion, and getting that real story. 

You have mentioned that when part of a narrative is missing, it can completely change the understanding of a story. So how do you balance this trade-off when you’re sharing only snippets of stories on the blog?

I don’t think I could say that my blog gives all sides of a story. Like I said earlier, I do still act as a filtering mechanism. I still have my biases, values, ethics, prejudices, and I’m the one who sways the conversation. On social media with the size, there is a trade-off between the integrity of the story and the character limit. But there’s also a limit of the attention span of the reader. So  there is a bit of that trade off.

I don’t think that @studentsofumich is the ultimate solution for understanding all sides of a story. I think it’s a baby step in the right direction, but I hope that it encourages people to take this into their own hands and practice it further in their own worlds.

Some common themes across the account have been struggle, resilience, and hope. Why do you believe that these particular themes are so prevalent in so many, if not all, of the stories?

I have no idea. I have absolutely no idea. It’s not stuff that comes up in common conversation. Not a lot of my friends would know which moments I’ve shown my resilience or proved my inner strength. So it’s not a common conversation topic, but they are topics that people would turn to define who they are. That’s my hypothesis. 

How can we, as individuals, pop our own filtered bubbles on media or the internet, and try to expose ourselves more regularly to stories that are different than our own?

Number one, privacy. Privacy isn’t about having something to hide. It is about protecting your free thinking and, especially in the virtual realm, being able to see all sides of the story, and knowing what skew your biases are going towards.

In the physical realm, it’s getting coffee with random people or introducing yourself to somebody you’ve always wanted to talk to. I like to go to random presentations about once a week on topics  I’m not at all familiar with.

You can also put yourself in reasonable situations of discomfort. I saw this Ted Talk where it was about getting dinner with someone you can’t stand. And I thought that was really interesting. It’s always possible to feel or to see the good in someone that you cannot stand. 

As you have graduated, you have decided to pass this account along to someone else. What qualities were you looking for when you were determining this person?

I’m not sure what qualities I was looking for. The person who I chose actually reached out to me the beginning of my senior year. She said, “Hey, I’m really interested in this account.” She didn’t even know that I was passing it down. She actually shadowed me for a little bit. She got to understand why I did what I did, how I worked, what my values were, how I got the stories. 

In a sense, I valued someone who genuinely had an interest in how the account worked, valued the stories, and had similar passion. She’s posted two stories on her own now, and I think she’s doing a phenomenal job. When she changed the logo it definitely hit me hard because that was when I thought, “Oh, I’m not in charge of this account anymore.” But that was when I also knew I made the right choice because that gave me confidence that I chose someone who had the intention to better the account and saw its potential. 

What is the most profound thing that you’ve learned throughout this journey?

I think to take a step back and realize that the world keeps moving. Everyone has their own life, everyone has their own story, and everyone makes decisions thinking that they’re doing what’s right. It’s definitely been helpful in my problem-solving skills, my communication, and how I interact with people.

It helped me realize how small I am in this big world, and how people’s lives keep moving despite whatever happens. It’s intimidating, but intimidating in a really comforting way—knowing that all of your actions impact someone in some way. You matter and the smallest things can matter. You can impact someone in the smallest way without even having realized it. 

I guess my biggest takeaway would definitely be: if you’re missing one piece of the story, you have a completely different narrative. I’ve said this over and over and over, but it definitely changed my outlook. If there is a situation that pops into my mind and I think, “I’m going to regret it if I didn’t do anything about this,” I will reach out and do something. 

Toward the end of the year, especially with everything happening right now, with the coronavirus and being at home and not having a chance to finish off senior year, you realize what was important in your routine, and what wasn’t important. If there are things that you know you will regret not doing, do them now.

We don’t have that long. Just do it.

 

Photo above taken by: Doug Cooumbe

Post written by #UMSocial Intern Keara Kotten