AUSTIN -- In a world where life is playing out on screens, it's hard to imagine life without social media. Some people are turning their on-screen lives into a way to make a living.
Welcome to Jessi Afshin’s Darling Detail virtual life.
“I started the darling detail as a side project in college,” said Afshin. “It was just a fun project.”
Buying outfits, styling them then posting the pictures on her web page took off. Now, three years later she has more than 100,000 Instagram followers and gains 300-400 more every day.
“It’s a dream job,” she said. “There’s a unique link with each photo I post and each link is tied to my name so when someone visits a retailer from my link I’m sticking a cookie in their browser. Through a program called Reward Style. If a person makes a purchase I’ll get commission off of that purchase.”
“That is how corporations get into the hearts and minds of consumers nowadays,” said Jill Brockmann, an adjunct professor at Austin Community College and Fulbright scholar. ACC has the first associate degree for social media communication in the country.
“It's all about finding something you love to do and you're really good at doing and that other people need to know about,” said Brockmann.
One student in her current class has a blog about bow hunting. A post where he reviewed two different hunting arrows went viral.
“Now he has about four corporate sponsors. He earns a great living, he can work from home and he can be with his family,” said Brockmann.
Its about being authentic, genuine, real.
“As a consumer you automatically believe what another consumer says way more often than what you would believe a corporation says,” Brockmann said.
“I never thought it would be this big,” said Afshin.
Afshin not only turned her hobby into a career, she's hired her brother to be her photographer and her mom to help with the marketing.
"What’s crazy is I just did it for fun,” she said.
Proof that social media is becoming more than a way of life, it's become a way to make a living.