By Ariana Cano |Staff Writer|

Social media should not be limited to sharing personal quips, it should be used for creating useful and informational content.

We all have different reasons for why we use social media.

Expanding how you use social media can help increase public awareness on different topics others may not be as aware.

You may want to post a selfie at Starbucks or tweet that you are bored at school, but also consider sharing relevant information with your followers.

Many organizations are currently taking advantage of these social media outlets to connect with customers and employees.

One way to connect is by using hashtags. Hashtags are an effective and innovative way to spread awareness about events, ideas, and organizations to your followers.

By using the hashtag, Instagram groups all the pictures and keeps them together on their own page.

However, using too many unnecessary hashtags causes the picture to become irrelevant.

Judith Urbina, a third year communication major, created and now uses a hashtag on some of her Instagram pictures to support her church.

Another popular hashtag trending on Twitter and Instagram, #HeForShe, has also caught the attention of many social media users.

HeForShe is a feminist movement striving for gender equality. It became popular on Instagram when U.N. Women Global Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson made a speech.

The HeForShe webpage invites everyone to share their hashtag and view posts discussing sexism and discrimination.

Individuals should try to be more dynamic in their social media use but the majority of people keep it mostly personal.

Reporters, journalists, anchors, and other news organizations or programs use social media to their advantage by viewing trending tweets, posts, and pictures from all over the world.

For instance, New York Times journalist Brian Stelter tweets drafts of his stories and asks his followers to give him feedback on his work before he publishes it.

Social media applications continue to change the amount of information we share.

My use of social media has changed the amount of time I spend sharing inspiring pictures and quotes on Instagram.

Those who limit social media applications to personal use, should start to use it for creating useful informational content.

Through the effective use of social media, we may find ourselves and others empowered by the sharing of ideas and interests with other people around the world.