18A - Create a Customer Avatar

My customer avatar is a junior college baseball player currently projected to be drafted in the MLB Rule 4 Draft this coming June. This customer wakes up early in the morning every day to either attend practices or class. His busy schedule often keeps him busy throughout the entirety of the day, with little time to breathe. This customer became enrolled in college due entirely to his athlete prowess. While he is smart and gets solid grades, his family would not normally be wealthy enough to send him through a 4-year university. While he and his family are not broke, they are certainly in the lower middle class financially. This customer goes to and from campus on a Vespa. When he is not in the classroom or out on the diamond, he is often playing video games or out with teammates. This customer has both Twitter and Instagram accounts that he uses regularly. He has a couple thousand followers on each, but in general gets very little attention to his posts and doesn’t pay much mind to what he is posting. If you were to ask him if he had ever posted anything “controversial” to any of his social media accounts, he would reply back with a blank stare. This customer feels a great need and desire to succeed at the professional level in order to provide for his family. 

            While I may not possess the physical abilities and skills that my customer has, I have a lot in common with him regardless. He and I both often feel overwhelmed by our schedules, and both frequent video games and social media. We both enjoy being out with friends, and due to our current statuses as “nobodies” pay little attention to our own actions. As I stated, I think the major thing we have in common is a sense of social media anonymity and obscurity. Neither of us put much thought into how any of our online content could be perceived in the future; instead we just post what makes sense to us in the present. 

            It is unsurprising that I share this quality with my avatar. Following several athletes being “busted” and harassed for their social media posts when they were in college and high school, I have definitely started to think a bit more about what I am posting. However, I know that most people my age do not currently have that level of realization. That is a major reason that I feel the need to help the customer that I outlined as my avatar. I have said a lot of dumb things online, and I want to help others who may one day be “famous” ensure that their ridiculous posts do not come back to haunt them as they have others.

Photo courtesy of Thomson20192, Flickr

Photo courtesy of Terry Ross, Flickr