by LUCY CHESTERTON
My cat was killed last week. My precious little guy, bought for me as a 30th birthday gift by my wonderful boyfriend, he ran away the week we moved house and was crushed by car on the road in our unfamiliar area.
I loved that cat – named Toffee Face but more often known as The Toff- from the moment we saw each other, and with more love than I thought I had in me. To some it won’t sound like a tragedy, because some people just don’t understand about pets. But those who do will know his sudden and brutal death, for me, has been terrible.
This event, many of my friends do not know about… because of my social media smile. Which means, when something heartbreaking happens, you won’t see it on my website.
The Social Media Smile. It’s a term a friend coined when capturing a photo of my two best girlfriends for Facebook one night. She snapped away, and as is habit now, each photo was shown to the group for approval before posting, each being rejected by one or both of my friends.
Finally, the photographer said, “OK, last chance, give me your best social media smile, or that’s it.” And they did. The perfect shot, showing everyone at their best, fit for public consumption. And up it went.
The social media smile goes beyond staging several photos before selecting the best possible one to upload. It includes “checking in” on Facebook -where your location is shown, along with who you’re partying with- when you’re only ever at the latest hot spots with the coolest people, at crazy hours of the night and day.