Mariah Castañeda is a contributing writer and former social media editor at L.A. Taco. She is currently an audience director for a non-profit newsroom that she is co-founding. They plan to launch in a couple of months.
I connected with Mariah to talk about how she uses social media as a journalist. She shares how her Latin community inspired her to become a journalist, how she handles her mental health on social media, and how social media affects news organizations.
This conversation has been edited for clarity.
Q: Let’s start off with your background. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what sparked your interest in journalism?
Mariah: A few things actually, I moved around a bit as a kid and noticed that where I lived had a big impact on how big our class sizes were and things like trees and air quality. As a teen, I recalled noticing that cable news was very anti-immigrant and it struck me as just pure lies. I naively thought that maybe those broadcasters just needed to be educated. Though my parents were born here. My family is from Ecuador and Mexico and a lot of important adults in my childhood were immigrants. I felt like I had so much support from my coaches, teachers, friends, and their families growing up, so it really pained me to hear Latino and immigrant communities being talked about negatively in the news.
Going to college, I realized that a lot of students had a vastly different experience from myself. I felt like everyone needed to understand where everyone was coming from so people could make better informed decisions when they vote for candidates and propositions that impact people’s lives.
Q: As a former social media editor, how have you seen social media change through out the years?
Mariah: Oh man, I’ve been running social media accounts for around seven years now, I started when I was an intern at the Voice of OC. It’s changed a lot, but that’s social, these platforms are always evolving. Back in the early to mid 2010s, social media was still relatively new and I remember a lot of more experienced folks not knowing how to use it yet. I was an intern setting up an Instagram account for a local news publication (and not well). That would be unthinkable now, but it’s kinda like how some places have interns make TikTok content now.
As for how people are using the apps, for so long these apps pushed users to share perfected moments of their lives but I think users are tired of that, hence the rising popularity of BeReal. I’ve noticed more people seeking connection and community, so every day users seem to post more to instagram stories, versus becoming reels content creators, people aren’t using Facebook as much but a lot of people seem to be using Facebook groups to keep up with their communities.
Instagram keeps trying to push different types of video content depending on what app they’re trying to compete with, right now it’s TikTok. While some folks are adapting and trying out the short videos, others are relying on stories to keep up with friends.
The pandemic really made TikTok usage takeoff even more than it already was, it really changed all the other apps. Instagram’s algorithm favors videos, Youtube now has short vertical video, Twitter users regularly repost TikTok content.
Q: With a phone and social media almost anyone can be a citizen journalist. What are your thoughts on citizen journalism? Any tips you have to people who haven’t studied traditional journalism but use social media it to get or share the news?
Mariah: There are a lot of great citizen journalists who do amazing work. If your goal is to be a trusted news source, then make sure that you always back up whatever you report on with tons of proof and documentation. Walk your audience through your reporting and your findings, whether it’s in a tweet thread, a TikTok, an Instagram story or video. They’ll more than likely love being a part of the process. Remember the basics of letting your audience know the who, what, where, why. Figure out what news needs you can fill. Maybe your local city hall is held during work hours when people can’t tune in, maybe you can recap that for folks. Don’t worry so much about finding the next big splashy story, report on the practical things that your audience/community needs. Sometimes that’s keeping up with local decision makers, sometimes it’s letting people know where they can find resources, sometimes it’s letting folks know where the fun events are. Feel free to include your personality if you feel comfortable with that, audiences tend to like real people.
Q: How do you navigate disinformation and misinformation on social media?
Mariah: That’s a hard one! I double check new claims that are dubious looking and many that aren’t so dubious looking. Remember that social media apps want to keep users on as long as possible. Content that elicits strong emotions tends to get more engagement and spread like wildfire, unfortunately a lot of times content that generates strong negative emotions and distrust can sometimes be misinformation and conspiracies.
Q: What has been your favorite social media app and why?
Mariah: Instagram, I love seeing what my friends post on stories, looking for events there, and communicating with my friends there. I like that my audience there is a little smaller, more personal than my twitter audience, and generally engage with my stories a lot. I also like that it’s less addicting than TikTok. I can stay scrolling on TikTok for hours if I’m not careful.
Q: How do use social media to connect with your community?
Mariah: For me it’s Instagram and Twitter! I used to go over the props and candidates every election cycle and update my small audience on current happenings on my personal account and the L.A. Taco account. Instagram is also where I learn about fun local events and local street vendors I haven’t tried yet. Instagram and Twitter helped me find more small Ecuadorian spaces after my favorite Ecuadorian restaurant closed down.
Q: Sometimes the news on social media can be heavy. What do you for your mental health when social media becomes too much?
Mariah: I try to curate my feeds as best as I can and have good social media boundaries. I try to interact with food, fashion, and cultural content on TikTok so I get a more positive experience instead of being stuck doom scrolling for hours. I also intentionally try to meet up with my non media friends and have fun. I try to make time for my hobbies as much as I can.
Q: Do you feel like social media has allowed you to have your own personal brand?
Mariah: In some ways, yes, I wanted my personal brand to be confident, unapologetically feminine, thoughtful, and fun; and I can do that on my personal accounts! In other ways no, it takes a lot of time I don’t have to build a solid brand. Also, some of these social media platforms aren’t particularly good for women, LGBTQ+ people, people of color, Twitter hasn’t really solved their trolling problem. I feel like I could easily solidify my personal brand but with more followers and reshares/retweets comes with more trolls.
Q: How do you think social media affects news organizations and what do you see middle ground being in the future?
Mariah: Because of social media, more people are getting their news from these apps, not straight from the news websites anymore. News organizations will need to rethink revenue models and adapt to audiences getting information solely from a newsroom’s social media posts. News organizations will also have to take up space where misinformation runs rampant, like community Facebook groups and TikTok, and learn how to game those algorithms.
Q: Things are always moving fast on the internet, what is your process on keeping up with trends and when to post on social media?
Mariah: I focus on what’s important to the goal of my news organization and invest my energy there. It’s impossible to keep up with everything and I’m not going to try.
Q: Any advice for anyone trying to get into journalism?
Mariah: This industry is changing so quickly I feel like it’s hard to give solid advice. I think there’s a lot of power in building community in journalism and outside of journalism. It’s fine to take a non journalism job to pay the bills and report on the side. I’ve learned so much in jobs I took outside of journalism and I apply them all at my current position.
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