Hello Parker Press readers! Welcome back to Parker Press' advice column: Ask a Friend. We have created this advice column with the intention to foster a designated safe space for peers to be open about things they might be struggling with or have questions about and give each another guidance. The floor is always open to anyone who is seeking advice! Every posting, Parker Press staff respond to questions they receive under their personal pen names.
HOW TO SUBMITÂ
Anyone can submit questions via this form or dm us directly. There are flyers with QR codes around the school that you can use to anonymously submit questions. You can sign your questions with your actual name, your initials, or a pen name---it's completely up to you.
Disclaimer:Â Advice from Parker Press is given by students on the Parker Press staff and is by no means a professional opinion. While every contributor has the best intentions, please take any advice given with a grain of salt, as every situation is very unique to each individual. Please keep questions school appropriate. Parker Press is by no means obligated to respond to questions that fall outside of these perimeters or are a violation someone's privacy. We hope you enjoy!
Q: How do I end a friendship but leave it on good terms? Like I like the person but they make me feel bad about myself and I don't know what to do and I don't want to hurt them.
- M
That's a really good question, and not one that could be easily answered. If the person is truly making you feel bad about yourself, you need to voice your concerns. Just ghosting someone is much more harmful than having a reasonable discussion with them. Explain why you feel the way you do, and maybe discuss taking a break from each other for a while. Make sure both you and your friend’s feelings are heard!
- A. Woman
Q: How can I earn money off of social media or other online platforms? (Oscar)
- Broke and expensive
Dear Broke and expensive,
The past decade’s stark rise in social media has opened the door to the potential for people to earn more than $150,000 annually. A consensus of ideas generally attributes this new reality to COVID-19’s influence on social media use, with some citing its impact nearing as much as a 70% increase in social media use during the pandemic. Today, the idea of being able to emit total creative freedom into a single 30-second video or post that generates someone's weekly income is appealing to many. Here are 4 ways to begin your journey of making this dream a reality:
Find a niche. One of the many reasons social media users are drawn to platforms like TikTok or Instagram is because they have the possibility of finding something they can relate to. Now, having a hobby can be extremely different for individual people, as someone might call their connection to rollerblading a hobby, while someone else might label their enjoyment of making alternative soundtracks for films the same thing. So, finding something that doesn't get much coverage, but that many people might resonate with is a prerequisite to a successful content creation career.
Join the creator fund. Now that you have found your niche and have hopefully built a small following, you are ready to hit the jackpot. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitch, and more all have their own creator funds, which allow users to monetize their content. While these do have some prerequisites, like a minimum following, your niche is what builds your account up to meet these requirements. After the successful entry of the creator fund, you are now able to make money off of views, even if a view generates a mere penny.
Partner with a small business. The big bucks are near. Small businesses know how beneficial a paid promotion from a content creator can be, with platforms like TikTok driving almost $15 billion in revenue for American small businesses in 2023. As you are still in the beginning stages of your social media career, your rates for a sponsored post are still low, but this only helps you. While you might not be paying your mortgage with content creation just yet, these low rates help to attract businesses.
Sell a course. Your bank account is being flooded with funds created by views, and you now have the resources to create a website and course, an opportunity with too much of a financial burden to be accessible to you before your social media career. If your platform is successful, others will be eager to find out the ins and outs of your process. A course allows aspiring content creators to educate themselves on the topic while benefiting you, the creator of the course, from the cost that the participants are presented with. Although creating a course might sound intimidating, it can be done in 10 simple steps.Â
After following these four steps, you might find yourself on the base of a successful account that allows you to branch out to other online platforms, implement more monetizing ideas, and much more to turn you into the next Charli D’amelio.
- O.A.