Deep in the throes of the internship application process, I find myself becoming more self-conscious about my accomplishments (or lack of). I polish my resume with an amalgam of leadership and journalism activities and check relentlessly for deal-breaking grammatical errors. I follow the fail-safe formula of experience, clips and recommendations as I make contacts and pray for responses from my favorite media outlets. Never did I think that something as superficial as my Facebook following could affect my chances of scoring an internship, but thanks to a new campaign, this could become yet another insecurity dredged up in the process.
In an unusual twist in the bloodbath for competitive internships, SELF Magazine is partnering with HerCampus.com in a “Lose the Freshman 15 Challenge” for college women (not limited to freshmen). SELF and Her Campus seek “three energetic, engaging, ambitious, digital-savvy college women” for a 10-week blogging opportunity on HerCampus.com. The winners will share their experiences in shedding their “Freshman 15” with a SELF-designed diet and exercise program, and they will tell others how to stay fit. The application process ended January 30, but the blogs will run from February through April.
It’s not my idea of a dream job, but it would certainly look impressive on a resume,and there’s the obvious appeal of being featured in both a major and an up-and-coming news outlet. I kept an open mind until I read the application. Under the “Digital Savvy + Promotion” section, there were the standard questions, asking for blogging experience, past journalism or web-based internships and involvement with on or off campus publications. Fair enough. But the application also asks women for their number of Facebook friends and photo albums, their number of Twitter followers and whether they are in a sorority. To top it off, the application requests a full-length body and headshot.
I’m definitely irritated about the ridiculous expectations this implies for college women. It’s yet another way of telling us how to be attractive and popular in an already high-stress and high-pressure environment. Losing weight, even for a magazine about fitness, should not be the means for an internship. But with such intense competition for any work in the field of journalism, I still wouldn’t blame a girl for applying.
But what concerns me the most is how this is no longer just about healthful lifestyle blogging. This is no longer just about journalism. This has morphed into a high school prom queen campaign. For making both professional and social contacts, having a large online presence is smart. I have no qualms with this. However, while such popularity might widen your social network, it won’t necessarily make you a better blogger. This is a fact that SELF and Her Campus seem to overlook. There’s little correlation between someone’s “Digital Savvy + Promotion” skills and her pool of virtual friends.
If SELF and Her Campus want a stereotypically “popular” girl to help them in the PR department, that’s their prerogative, but they need to call it what it is. It’s all about publicity, and the application shows that the blogging aspect is only secondary. Blogging is a legitimate journalistic form, and for such a prominent national magazine like SELF, it demands skilled writers. In the infamous words of The Devil Wears Prada, it’s a position “a million girls who would die for.” But what about the girls who have all the media savvy and heart, but don’t have the perfect headshot or huge Twitter fan base?
The women who will be chosen for this opportunity, can (and probably will) be both pretty and popular, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But I hope that, when narrowing down their candidates, SELF and Her Campus opt for the best blogger over the social butterfly. I’d be naive if I believed that success in life doesn’t often have to do with appearance or popularity. Perhaps I’m also naive in refusing to believe that this is what journalism for young women has devolved into. I’m not so backward that I can’t appreciate the benefits of social networking, but your number of Twitter followers has no effect on whether I’m going to read and enjoy your work. SELF and Her Campus do promote some marketable and vital knowledge for any journalist, but these media outreach skills, in conjunction with social appeal, should not take precedence over solid reporting. If you don’t want to give me that dream internship, reject me for my skills as a journalist, not for my number of online friends.