Upon opening Facebook and Instagram, students notice their news feeds bombarded with flashy graphics from clubs and organizations promoting their upcoming events and meetings. 

From 2012 to 2018, teenage social media usage has doubled, according to Common Sense Media. As a result, clubs and student-run organizations have shifted from physical to social media advertisements in hopes of capitalizing on this trend. For most groups, however, simply creating an account is not enough; few clubs and organizations have managed to create platforms that they can effectively use.

One club that actually does accomplish this is the school’s Interact chapter, which primarily focuses on organizing volunteering opportunities in which members can help causes they care about. In an effort to spread awareness and gain volunteers for opportunities like running booths at local film festivals and volunteering at shelters, the club’s leadership turned to popular social media platforms – Facebook and Instagram.

“Social media is quite common among our generation, so by using social media, we want people to be able to see our notifications and posts a lot more,” senior co-president Vivian Lin said. 

In order to effectively organize information, the Interact club uses each social media platform for a different purpose. On Instagram, students are given surface level information regarding just the time, date and location of an event, while on Facebook, students can see more details about the event.

Similarly, other student-run groups, like ASB and the various other class offices, use different social media platforms to promote their own events, including Homecoming and fundraisers. Student-run businesses have also joined in on the trend: DeltaX, a nonprofit tutoring company dedicated to teaching students topics in STEM, started to use Instagram and Facebook to spread awareness throughout the community.

DeltaX currently advertises on Instagram and WeChat according to the company’s head management and communications lead, senior Callia Yuan. By using these two platforms, the organization manages to reach out to two different groups — students through Instagram and parents through WeChat. 

“Because of social media, DeltaX is able to get more student engagement and ultimately expand to provide our services to more students,” Yuan said.

Both DeltaX and Interact have attributed their “success” on social media to heavy graphics prioritization, as having a distinct look catches people’s attention, Yuan said. For Yuan, the graphics she designs for DeltaX emphasize a “modern, sleek and clean” look, while the Interact club focuses on creating “pretty” graphics that pop out at students.

In addition to advertising, social media can effectively serve as a medium for team bonding. The girls’ varsity soccer team, for example, has an Instagram page where they post information and highlights regarding noteworthy events, such as meetings, games and their senior night. Posting has also helped them bond, said senior Ananya Krishnan, a member of the team who actively posts on the page.

“Sometimes we fight over what we’re going to post, or how we write a post, but it’s nice being able to work with them outside of sports because it’s just a different mindset,” Krishnan said.

According to Krishnan, the page has influenced eighth graders transitioning into high school in their decision to play for the team. Their many posts about sports night, in which middle schoolers come to the high school to explore potential sport interests, usually garners more interest for the team. 

Outside of these groups, more and more students are  turning to social media to gather attention for activities and causes that they care about, ranging from sports to charity pages. 

Although adults often view social media as a disruptive, time-wasting vacuum, when used to its full potential, it can serve as a powerful tool for raising awareness for issues and events they care about.

“Social media is an instrumental tool in helping organizations like us increase signups through communicating with students and parents,” said Yuan. “It’s definitely something clubs and orgs should invest in, if they haven’t already.”