Have you ever wondered who handles all of UTRGV’s social media platforms? We had the opportunity to sit down with the mastermind behind it all! His name is Alex Garrido and he manages all of the university’s social media platforms. Check out what he had to say!
HC: What do you love the most about social media and the University?
What I love the most about social media is that it is so unpredictable, it’s always changing, and how random it can be. I love the interactions and connections. Ironically I am an introvert, and I’m very proud of it. So naturally I analyze things and sometimes over analyze things, and social media allows me to analyze people on a massive scale. My undergraduate degree is in Psychology, so the human mind has always been fascinating to me. Social media allows me to get a glimpse of what people are doing and analyze their behavior, try to understand their motivations, and try to predict what is going to happen based on their behaviors. I see social media as a massive social experiment.
The thing that I love about UTRGV is that UTRGV is all about new solutions. The leadership is relatively young and positions are literally being created and worked on right now. Right now we are flexible and we are moving. There are a lot of drastic changes that are happening all the time and we get the opportunity to be innovative and to be among the first, to be exclusive, to be at the forefront of technology and implement new things. For example, Facebook Live started in April 2015 and we were among one of the first universities to fully live stream our commencement ceremony in May of 2015. I love that UTRGV powers innovation!
HC: How long have you been wearing Google glasses and what do they do?
I’ve been wearing Google glasses since 2011. I was apart of a developer program that Google released. The main idea behind the glasses were for people to capture a memory. You can record with the glasses; it’s a first person account so you get to see the footage through the eyes of the person. When you see someone’s recordings you’re able to connect with them through a first person type of experience. You can also read your emails through the glasses, check your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and take photos. I thought this was going to be the next best thing, but unfortunately the Google glass project did not materialize the way they hoped for and in 2014 Google ended the project.
HC: What advice do you have for students who are seeking a career in social media?
Get involved as much as possible. Learn as much as possible. The amazing thing about social media is that it is changing all the time! One of the first things that I would recommend is to start reading about social media and psychology because social media is all about psychology.