Selena Gomez Shares How She Keeps It Real On Social Media

Earning the prestigious title of “The Tastemaker” in Time Magazine's “Firsts” project, baby-faced singer Selena Gomez shares why she believes it's important to remain genuine on social media. Gomez has always promoted vulnerability and has been open about the difficulties she has encountered from a life in the spotlight – a positive motivation for the legions of young fans that make up her record-breaking 126 million Instagram followers.

“I am glad I grew up in the time that I did. I think it’s really hard to be a kid now, especially with social media. I can’t imagine what it would be like to grow up with that. It’s already difficult to get up every day and just feel good about yourself without seeing the highlights of everyone else's life. That’s why I like being vulnerable with my fans on social media. I like that they've seen my mistakes. I try to use that as a way to connect with them. That’s all I can do. I hope that they know that strength doesn’t mean that you have to put on a facade. Strength is being vulnerable,” she says in the magazine interview.

Naturally, Gomez also took to Instagram to express her gratitude for being included in the project, her loyal fans bombarding the comments section with support. Twitter reactions to the magazine's decision to put Selena Gomez on the woman-empowering cover weren't quite so positive however. “Ok how the hell is 100 million followers the leading achievement when other women are involved in way more important and serious issues..” reads one disgruntled tweet. Whether or not people agree that Gomez has changed the world by posting selfies, or greatly improved the life of women, we think she deserves a break – how can being a positive role model to millions of young women be a bad thing?