Episode 7: Social Media – Has it Changed the Perception of Beauty

Special Guest: Megan Parken
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/meganparken/
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWQGYk4mXa7wHmjxb1T00XQ

Dr. Franco: Welcome to ”Plastic Surgery Untold,” I’m Dr. Johnny Franco, board-certified plastic surgeon, also known as Austin Plastic Surgeon. I have the incredible gift and I would say just overall wellbeing of being surrounded by such incredible people. Celebrity anesthesia, Travis Osborne.

Travis: You are far too kind, sir.

Dr. Franco: Megan “Blue Check” Parken.

Travis: Boom.

Dr. Franco: And questionably single Gilberto Saenz, formerly known as Austin’s most eligible bachelor.

Gilberto: Thank you, sir. Appreciate that.

Dr. Franco: Today on episode seven we’re gonna talk about a little social media, has it changed the perception of beauty? And Megan is actually gonna take over this one a little bit. She said as the only one with the blue check mark, she said that she probably should help reign some of this in a more authentic and verified is I think word that she used with us out there.

Travis: I see what you did there.

Dr. Franco: But before we jump into this, let’s get a little catch up on what’s been going on since we last hung out and talked to stuff? Travis, anything new and exciting in the world of anesthesia, married life and dog kennels?

Travis: You already know that we are headed out of town again. We’re leaving on Wednesday this week going to Breckenridge. We’re gonna ski for a couple days with one of my buddies and his girlfriend and Mary, that’s my wife.

Dr. Franco: Is he a…are you a skier or snowboarder?

Travis: Snowboarder.

Dr. Franco: And for those of us…

Travis: Mary skis, my buddy snowboards, his girlfriend skis. So they’ll probably ski. We’ll snowboard.

Dr. Franco: And the question for both you and Megan can hopefully reign in here, Valentine’s is coming up.

Travis: It is.

Dr. Franco: And I don’t wanna spoil the surprise. So Mary, please turn off the podcast if you’re listening. Mary’s, @yourtrendytherapist?

Travis: @yourtrendytherapist, that’s the wife, yeah.

Dr. Franco: @yourtrendytherapist, please turn off your podcast. Just pause it for this section. Speed forward. Do the little plus 30. Can you tell me you guys already got plans? Not plans?

Travis: We don’t, I’m the worst with Valentine’s plans. Honestly, I think Valentine’s over-hyped. That’s just me. You’re the relationship expert. You guys can fill in too.

Megan: I think New Year’s is over-hyped. I don’t think Valentine’s Day is.

Dr. Franco: So is Valentine’s important to you?

Megan: Yeah.

Dr. Franco: What happens if you don’t do anything for Valentine’s and you’re in that weird, awkward, let’s say you just met over the holidays, you were lonely, you reconnected with a next [inaudible 00:02:26]? It’s all hypothetical, all hypothetical.

Megan: You gotta be careful because a girl could think that that’s like a step, definitely.

Dr. Franco: So what’s a safe Valentine’s something something?

Megan: Oh man.

Dr. Franco: Do you have to do dinner? I hate dinner on Valentine’s.

Megan: I don’t like dinner. I don’t like dinner, no.

Dr. Franco: I hate dinner.

Travis: That’s where I’m going with that.

Megan: Do something kinda unique.

Travis: I think that going to dinner and doing one of these prefix $150 a person plates, it’s like, I don’t know, that’s lost on me.

Dr. Franco: So you’re saying you’d prefer Netflix and chill, Hulu and hangout or Disney+ and something?

Megan: I’d say like do something enjoyable. Like go to a concert or a comedy show or like something where it’s enjoyable for both of you and not like at dinner, all dressed up.

Travis: Me and Mary have gotten the habit over the past couple years of buying each other…when we can get each other at present, we normally get each other an experience. So we’ll either get concert tickets or we’ll get plane tickets or we’ll plan a trip to go to somewhere and hike or do something like that. And it’s just, it’s so much more fun than, “Hey, here’s a shirt. Hey, here’s, you know, here’s these shoes.”

Dr. Franco: This is set up for sabotage because number one, you’re gonna date someone and they’re gonna say, ”Oh, I don’t want anything for Valentine’s. I don’t need anything.” And then you know what, Johnny Franco goes, “Oh okay, this girl’s super chill.” And then you know what happens? Super chill turns into like getting a shoe thrown at yourself. And that’s what happens.

Megan: Can I say something super lame but very true?

Dr. Franco: Uh-huh.

Megan: The best thing I’ve ever actually gontten for Valentine’s Day was a handwritten letter, like a full, like two-page letter. It doesn’t have to be super mushy.

Dr. Franco: Two pages?

Megan: Yeah. About how like your memories together, how they feel about you. Some nice stuff.

Dr. Franco: If you combine every girlfriend I’ve had in my 40 years, I don’t think there’s a two years worth of letters that I have written in my entire life.

Megan: You’re spoiling the show plans already. So right now we’re on what…this is my show today.

Dr. Franco: Mama’s taking it home today.

Megan: We were talking about what something interesting going on in our lives coming up. We haven’t gotten to all that yet. So what’s something interesting going on you’re doing this weekend, upcoming? Anything?

Dr. Franco: You know, we’ve talked about doing a little bit of fitness stuff. I actually have a training workout session set up for this Sunday, so gotta keep it moving, keep it on track. I’ve still been strong. So as you can tell, these scrubs are getting a little bit looser.

Travis: I noticed that.

Dr. Franco: Boom, boom, boom.

Travis: Chest is popping.

Megan: Is that like a personal trainer or what is the idea?

Dr. Franco: Yeah. Doing a little personal training. Yeah. I mean, I know what you’re thinking. It’s how’s it gonna get better?

Travis: That’s what I was gonna say.

Dr. Franco: I’ve already started the countdown. We’re only 6 months and 10 days away from the pool party. So keep that in your calendars.

Travis: Can we count on another terry cloth tee shirt appearance from Gilberto with a Speedo?

Gilberto: Fact.

Travis: Yes. All right. All right. That’s early…premature.

Dr. Franco: We heard it here. There’s witnesses, we have it. G. Berto is coming in a Speedo.

Travis: With the terry cloth shirt. Gotta make an appearance.

Megan: Are you gonna join him?

Gilberto: Negotiable.

Megan: Matching. Little matching Speedo action.

Dr. Franco: I’ll take…I’ll give you this. You know what? I’m gonna do a Megan. I’m going to say it’s complicated.

Gilberto: Dr. Franco, don’t you get some bathing suits made for…

Dr. Franco: It’s funny, I actually…our social media manager actually sent me a link today. We’re actually in the process of designing our swimsuits for the season. Maybe, one, your trendy therapist would like to help us. So if she’s listening, if she maybe slide into the DMs in a non-Gilbert DM sliding way, I would appreciate it and we can get something figured out.

Travis: Mary, you can turn the recording back on since we’re off of Valentine’s Day now. Yes, we need your help with the…

Dr. Franco: But we haven’t heard what G. Berto is doing for Valentine’s as a newly dating something. This is a tricky time for him. Megan, would you say, I mean, someone who just started dating, reconnecting, you’re trying to go slow, what advice would you give over here?

Megan: I mean, it’s only tricky if you make it tricky, honestly. Like if you carry that with confidence and just go do something fun together, like you said, why? I mean, you don’t have to make it a huge deal.

Travis: I agree with that.

Megan: But if you do nothing, that’s not good.

Travis: Don’t do what Franco said.

Gilberto: Don’t not do nothing.

Dr. Franco: But I said I didn’t want anything.

Gilberto: How well has that worked out for you?

Dr. Franco: I’m 40 and single.

Megan: Out of curiosity, I don’t think that Valentine’s Day is just something where the man has to do something. What would you feel like if a girl did something for you, something really thoughtful?

Dr. Franco: I mean, that’d be first. I’m always up for some new adventures.

Megan: Okay. But like wouldn’t like, right?

Dr. Franco: I mean I would like it. I want it.

Megan: It doesn’t have to just be something where the guy [inaudible 00:06:54] you something.

Dr. Franco: I want it. I like it. I need it. I don’t have it.

Gilberto: I guess my only comment is why does it have to be just on that one day? Like why can’t it…

Megan: It’s true.

Dr. Franco: A man like you deserves love every day.

Travis: That’s right, G. Berto.

Dr. Franco: Every day. You want the love, you take the love, G. Berto. Well, I mean, as fun as this is, I don’t wanna do too much because I’m afraid to get scolded again. But Megan, talk to us a little bit and I know you’re super active on YouTube and can you tell people your YouTube handle?

Megan: Right. It’s just Megan Parken, all same.

Dr. Franco: You guys should know this by now.

Travis: Megan “Blue Check” Parken.

Dr. Franco: Exactly. Just Megan Parken. But you talk a lot, and on some of this stuff that I’ve watched you get a lot of feedback in terms of you talking about your own personal journeys, you talking about your own lifestyle and so forth. Can you tell us how you think social media, YouTube, all those things have changed the perception of beauty and how people have responded to some of that?

Megan: Oh man. Yeah. I mean that’s like such a big question because obviously no doubt it’s changed the perception of beauty for sure. I think now you’re seeing so many people from all over the world that you’re not just seeing your next door neighbor or someone you see at the grocery store, like you’re seeing everyone. So your idea of beauty can really be quick to change. And there are so many trends. I’m sure you guys see even with like injectables and fillers. The other day, I was looking and I saw one where people are wanting to like raise their eyebrows so they’re like a slanted effect. And obviously you can do that with a brow lift, but now girls are doing it by shaving off the end of their eyebrow and drawing in their brow more slanted. So like there are just so many different ways to like achieve different looks that happen to be kind of trending or you see a lot of celebrities looking a certain way. But for me personally, like my big thing with YouTube has always just been being really transparent. So I talk about everything. So obviously when I went through my whole breast enhancement journey and stuff, I just actually published my video, shared that. And I would say I was checking my analytics on it and it’s like my number one like most viewed video for like the time that it’s been up. It’s only been around for 11 hours or so.

Travis: Why do you think… Not to cut you off. Why do you think that is?

Megan: Because girls wanna hear about that kind of stuff. Like a lot of…I mean every girl I would say has breasts. Like you wanna hear about it, like you’re interested. And even if maybe you’re not looking into getting one, you still wanna see someone that did get one. You’re curious to hear about it. And I think for me specifically, my viewers know that I’m not gonna sugar coat it. I’m gonna tell it how it actually was, what I think about it, you know, be very open and honest and raw about why I did it. And for me that’s carried me through, you know, the last 10 years on YouTube and I think that’s why I’ve been successful with that.

Dr. Franco: But don’t you think social media has been both sides? I think it’s been absolutely incredible for the sharing of information.

Megan: Oh no, no doubt. There’s been some backlash for sure. There have been mean comments on there for sure. And a lot of them, you know, I’ve responded back to some of them and they don’t have a lot of point. A lot of them are just like, “Oh, I’m disappointed in you that you’re getting caught up in trying to be fake or you wanna change the way you look. Or you looked cute before, why are you now trying to be sexy or whatever?” And I think, you know, engaging back with those people I’ve said, you know, how does this change who I am as a person? How does anything about the way I look also affect you, honestly? It’s not in your body. I’m not telling you you need to do it. Not telling anyone you don’t look good if you don’t have certain things achieved. But I am being honest because I could just be quiet and not tell you. And then what happens is people message me and they say, “Oh my boobs don’t look like yours. You know, what bra are you wearing? What shirt is that,” that makes them look like that. And I think it’s unfair to not say, no, I’ve had my breasts done. That’s how they look like this, you know. I think being honest about that is a big deal.

Dr. Franco: And this is the point of social media, YouTube, all these things is this massive sharing of information. And if nothing else, I mean I think it opens up a conversation because us as providers trying to get people to express what they’re really feeling, getting that has been really, really hard. And here’s a chance where people can do it so openly. And I think you’d be in such a productive manner. And it’s hard and I mean I know you’ve had it, I’ve had it, and you obviously have it, trying to not let the few negativity out there because there’s always gonna be people that are gonna be negative just because they wanna be negative. And I don’t think they realize, and you guys tell me if it’s different, when people make ugly comments, even as much stuff as we do, like some of it you’re like, “Damn, that one hurt a little bit.”

Gilberto: Words cut deep.

Megan: And there is also is so much to it I mean to think about it and you can think within your own minds. Have you ever gone out of your way to go write something nasty to someone online? Like, probably not here, because underlying there is a sense of, you know, hurt or jealousy or confusion or something. It’s not someone that’s fully happy in their right state of mind doing that because people that are happy don’t tear others down. You don’t want to. If you’re happy, you’re not trying to make someone else feel bad. It’s just, that’s not the way it works. So understanding where those people maybe are coming from is a big deal because a lot of this is something that can serve insecurities. The way that people look, no matter if someone’s incredibly confident, deep down people have certain things that they’re uncomfortable about. So maybe seeing someone get something done or being able to have that opportunity, maybe that strikes something within them that they wished they could do or they want to, but they don’t know how to express it. And I think being delicate about that is also important.

Dr. Franco: And you have a question.

Gilberto: I was just saying, have you been able to, with these people that you engage with that post these negative comments, gotten them to like change their mind or their [inaudible 00:12:18]?

Megan: Yeah, it’s fascinating. I mean on…I’ve had it on Instagram as well and I’ll, you know, I’ll go and I’ll message them privately so that we can talk back and forth and immediately the switch is like, “Oh, I’m such a big fan. I’ve watched you for years. You know, I don’t know why I wrote that, but now that we’re talking, let me tell you about this and this and this.” It’s like, in some ways it is, you have to be kind of careful because people notice you, gets your attention. I mean, unfortunately people can say nice things all day long and the one thing that sticks out in your mind and you view is like something really horrible and you zone in on that. And I’ve tried to be careful about obviously responding to the really nice supportive people. I’ve had people that I recognize their usernames, they’ve watched me for the past like 11 years. Like I know, they comment consistently on my stuff. They message me, they know all my sisters, they wish me happy birthday every year. So I need to be careful on not zoning in on one person saying, “Oh, you know, you’re so fake and…

Travis: That looks ugly or whatever.

Megan: …I don’t like you now.” And then I’m like, “Oh my gosh, I need to zone in on that comment because there’s a lot to it.”

Dr. Franco: That’s almost hard because on a lot of our stuff when people are overly negative, if it’s a true comment and I think there’s a few confusion or misconception, I tend to comment. If it’s just trying to be very negative, typically I just leave that alone because look, you know, to your point, there’s a lot of people who are really trying to learn and educate. And I think if people don’t know, the number one reason that we started this podcast was to educate people. And so if there’s truly like some misconceptions and I feel like I can educate people, at least with some knowledge, I’m not saying they have to agree with what I’m saying or doing…

Megan: And that’s important. Yeah.

Dr. Franco: …but at least understanding where I’m coming from. And I think, you know, we obviously are talking about surgery now. In the injectable world, this has become huge between fillers, other trends. I mean, tell us a little bit about what you see in your practice, G.

Gilberto: So I would say that and this kind of piggybacks on something that we’ve kind of touched on before, it used to be where patients would bring in photos of their favorite celebrity and ask for, you know, something.

Dr. Franco: So they bring in pictures of Megan or?

Gilberto: Exactly. Yeah.

Megan: No, like Angelina Jolie. They’re like, “Hey, I want my lips to look like hers,” you know.

Gilberto: Exactly. Exactly. Now it’s different. Now it’s like, “Oh, can you make me look more like this social media influencer,” or, you know, this particular person.

Megan: And I think something to touch on that that’s big is a lot of these celebrities, maybe we don’t necessarily…I mean I’m sure there are photos of what they looked like maybe before certain procedures, but the realness that they connect to of, you know, a media personality or someone that’s on YouTube or on Instagram, they can easily go back in my old photos and see what I looked like before, you know, I did my lips or I did something. So they can come in and say, well, I could look like that because I know what she started as or what she looked like before. With like you said, celebrities, I mean it’s a little bit more difficult I think.

Gilberto: Yeah, no, I couldn’t agree more.

Dr. Franco: I think it’s important too to try and figure it out because especially in the surgery world, we see a lot of people bring in pictures that aren’t real. And I think trying to reign in expectations, I don’t think sometimes people realize, not everybody’s especially truthful about their pictures. And so…
Gilbert: That’s an excellent point.

Dr. Franco: …people post a lot of stuff on there that’s either touched up, Photoshopped, other things. And I’m sure you see this with people that, you know, you meet at events and you’re like, “Oh, that’s you?”

Megan: And I mean even goes into, you know, even the hairdressing world, like I’ll have girls that will say, “Oh, you know, I want my hair to be like this white silvery blonde color.” And like I’ve talked to my stylist before and she’s like, yeah, it’s gotten so bad that people are Photoshopping hair color. So when someone brings in a photo and is like, “I want this,” they’re like, “That’s not possible. Like that’s not real. It’s altered.” Which obviously, you know with bodies and face and skin smoothing, you know, there’s just a plethora of ways people can alter the way that they look.

Dr. Franco: To help those people that are listening for us, I mean between you and Gilberto, can you give us maybe some thoughts or some ideas? What are good ways to use social media to help find like a provider or and if you don’t mind me getting a little personal with you and I feel since you yelled at me at the beginning of the show, I have a little leeway now, did you use social media at all when trying to research your procedure?

Megan: Yeah I did actually. I watched a lot of the videos online on your account because I wanted to see what actually was happening. I’m a very like research-oriented person, so it didn’t scare me to know what it looked like to have someone, you know, be cut open and all that kind stuff, I actually wanted to see that. And also, you know, similarly, I think it’s really important to look at before and after photos as well. That’s a big thing and that’s obviously a good kind of resource to use that people should be taking advantage of that they’re online and they’re out there for your help, honestly.

Dr. Franco: Go ahead.

Travis: I think social media is great for finding a plastic surgeon or finding a surgeon or, you know, anybody in general in medicine because what I feel like he gets you is and social media in general like just in the past couple of years, people seem so much more transparent. People know they real you, Megan, on your Instagram and social channels and everything. With you Johnny, like people get to know you. They know your personality, they get to know your quirks, they get to know what you like, your aesthetic, what your patients typically look like, what results you like to…or push for.

Dr. Franco: A hundred percent.

Travis: And when you can find that real connection and, you know, when we talked about real self a little bit before that another…just another bridge for patients to find you and to see you and your results and stuff like that, mixed with your social media following, people get a pretty good 30,000 foot picture of you in general.

Megan: I think it also puts people at ease obviously to kind of feel like they know their doctor. They kind of like they can vibe with you, kind of see how you are and how you act and stuff. Do you feel like using media has been a big thing for your practice? Because you guys are very involved, you do a lot every single day. Honestly, I see posts in…

Dr. Franco: It’s been huge for us because I do think people know me a little bit better. It’s funny how well they know my office staff, which I think makes them much more comfortable. I even think it helps at the surgery center because our surgery center is not at our office. We actually work with Celebrity Anesthesia here. And it’s funny because people get there and I think you’re at a new place on a day when you’re super nervous, you basically see a familiar face.

Travis: ”Oh my God, are you Celebrity husband?” I’m like, ”Yeah, that’s me.”

Megan: That’s me.

Dr. Franco: I think it’s super helpful. The other thing that I’ve seen in our consults is that people who watch surgeries and do those types of things come in and we have a better conversation because they understand exactly what I’m getting. They ask more specific questions, “Hey, am I gonna get that internal corset thing?” Hey, I have that problem that I saw on your…” And they’ll screenshot the problem or save the video. And then that way it can be this is what I have. It really lets us get to a good point about where we’re at.

Travis: And for patients that have no medical background, it helps them to articulate a problem or where something they’re worried about that they may have not been able to articulate before.

Dr. Franco: Have you seen that this has helped you in terms of injectables, in reaching people’s goals, because I feel like sometimes you’re like, “I can’t do that.” Or “I see what you’re saying, here’s the road we need to do to get there.”

Gilberto: Yeah, I would say so. I think, yeah, I think it’s all about, you know, how the information is presented, you know, from the patient to the provider and vice versa. You know, how, you know, the response that we give them and, you know, trying to meet those expectations that they have. And if I feel that I can’t necessarily meet their expectations, then I will be the first one to recommend, you know, a number of different, very talented injectors that I know that, you know, might be able to do something for them.

Dr. Franco: No, keep going. Keep going.

Gilberto: Dr. Franco included.

Dr. Franco: A couple things that, you know, because I’m very hyped on it, I love it, I think social media has so many pluses. But it’s not without its own problems. I think that there’s a lot of people who do a lot of fake pictures, post stuff that give people a misconception of what’s reality, what’s able to be done. And the second part that I wanna get everybody’s opinion on is that this idea that, you know, whoever has the best social media account is also the best physician. And I don’t know that those two go hand in hand. Any thoughts on either of those two topics from the Celebrity cast?

Megan: I would say the only thing that I would say is a good sign is obviously if they have a large account, they’re doing a lot of procedures, they’re showing. And like you could go through and look at the before and afters and have a lot of like resource on there.

Dr. Franco: But not everybody’s account just because they have a large number of followers doesn’t mean that those followers are real.

Megan: I didn’t mean followers. I meant more like that they’re very active, they run it and they keep up with it and they’re constantly posting what they’re working on.

Dr. Franco: A hundred percent. Watching the surgeries ’cause they get a good feel for their work. But I think the other point is that, and you may be a…you probably know a lot more about this than I do, but there’s not every account is real in terms of the actual followers. Comments can even be bought I think and stuff like this.

Megan: Yeah. Honestly. And that’s like a whole ‘nother thing because obviously being someone that’s done this for so long, like the people that do that, like are ruining it for the people that really do it. You know, like it’s been such a difficult thing to work with brands to get paid promotions, all this kind of stuff because these other people have inflated numbers. So it’s like someone comes out of nowhere with a million followers. You’re like, who is this person? How?

Travis: They have eight pictures. What is this?

Megan: Yeah. So you need to be careful about that. I mean there are telltale things, you know, not to like brag on myself, but the verification for me is a big deal for my field. Because there are so many in Instamodels, Instagirls whatever. And so…

Dr. Franco: I wanted to host this segment and she said, ”We’ll just let the person with the blue check mark go.”

Megan: I actually did not say that. I did not say that.

Dr. Franco: I did boom, boom, and Donald goes, ”Well she’s got a point, Franco. She’s got a point.”

Megan: Fact or fiction, that is fiction. I did not say that. And also…

Travis: Just thinking it.

Megan: And that’s also a thing. Like there’s a subtlety to that. Like when, you’re out and you meet someone and they’re like follow me on Instagram and you follow them, you don’t say… Like you have a blue check mark. They notice it and they’re like, “Oh, okay.” You know, but you don’t…you can’t flex it and like say it. Like that…it loses the whole point when you do that.

Travis: You don’t introduce yourself Megan “Blue Check” Parken?

Megan: No, no, no.

Gilberto: Would Dr. Franco?

Dr. Franco: No. It’s like when you roll up and you just don’t say anything and then you’re like…

Megan: You just like click your keys.

Dr. Franco: …that’s my G. I think it’s just super important to be careful and like, you know somebody who has a great Instagram account, you like him, I think you still gotta do your due diligence, look them up, check out reviews. Are they board-certified? You still need to meet with them. You still need to go through it. So just like anything in life, you just don’t wanna base everything on one thing.

Travis: And I think that’s the biggest thing. Don’t take everything at face value. Dive deep and look.

Megan: I think people are getting better about that for sure.

Travis: I think so too. I think people, people see who is real, people will see who’s doing good work. I mean when you’ve got good work and you’re documenting a large portion of it and you’re doing some education stuff, like that really shows that you’re pretty well…you’re pretty versatile. Like that shows that you’re a good surgeon and shows you you’ve got some good stuff going on.

Dr. Franco: It’s funny, since we started this podcast, I’ve started listening to other podcasts and I was listening to someone talk actually this morning on the drive to the surgery center, which actually is my favorite, like peacetime, because there’s nobody on the road at 5:30 in the morning. But you know, one of the things that he said was, you know, whenever you’re talking about your brand, your stuff, he goes, “One, if you truly believe in what you’re doing, people will follow you.” He said, “Two, you know, because somebody asked a question. It’s like, ‘Oh, well how do I sell this?’ And it’s…”

Megan: You don’t need to sell it.

Dr. Franco: That’s exactly what he said.

Megan: It will sell itself.

Dr. Franco: If you totally believe in what you’re doing and you just educate people about it, you know? Because if you think about it, I’m sharing what I do, I’m sharing why I do it, why I love it, and why it helps people. And look, if it fits in and you’re like, “Oh yeah, that’s a problem I’ve been dealing with,” it’s gonna fall. If not, then it doesn’t. And the point that I think why some people succeed in social media and other people don’t is that you’ll see and I see it all the time. Like when we pay all this money to have somebody come in and do this fancy video for us and so forth, I’ll tell you, it belly flops and does nothing. When it’s just us talking about something real because it’s real, people feel it.

Travis: People connect with that.

Dr. Franco: Social media is so different because people just wanna be real and they wanna connect. It’s about sharing and it’s just amazing how information goes back and forth. And I got asked this question, the real self mean, how does it come? I said, ”People have missed the point about social media.” It’s in it. It’s just about sharing. You wanna share ideas and that’s what it’s made for.

Travis: Sharing real experiences, real ideas, not the stuff that’s fabricated, not the stuff that’s…

Megan: Overproduced.

Travis: …overproduced. Anytime that… So I ended up taking 90% of Mary’s photos whenever we do stuff. And Mary has her own Instagram following @yourtrendytherapist. She does an awesome job with that. Fashion lifestyle.

Dr. Franco: She’s also Megan’s nemesis.

Megan: She is not. That is not true.

Dr. Franco: For those that haven’t listened to the first six episodes.

Travis: They’re in the same space and I think they both do an awesome job with it.

Dr. Franco: I can’t wait till the final…until the day that they meet.

Travis: They’re gonna square it off.

Megan: You’re not gonna have any jokes left.

Dr. Franco: I wanna be following with a little boombox with the little boom, boom, you know, like a little sound of as they’re kind of coming around the corner. I can’t wait for the day.

Travis: But I think and you can probably speak to this too, but sometimes when we’ll go out and we’ve got a shoot for a campaign or whatever, we’ll go out and take pictures and the most overly done, like the most well thought out, like this is gonna look great…

Megan: “Perfect photo.”

Travis: …pose this way. Yeah, we’ll get like a handful of likes.

Megan: It’s interesting how it works, yeah.

Dr. Franco: Then the next one we’ll pull out her iPhone. We’re like on our way to dinner. So I’m like, “Oh hey, can you send a picture of me in front of this place?” “Yeah, sure.” Two pictures. Click off. You’re going, “Oh, this looks good.” She’ll post it, a gazillion likes. I’m just like how?

Megan: I think what it is and if you think about this, we all have, you know, an ability within ourselves where when you meet someone, someone that has like that quiet confidence about them, you somehow are drawn to that person, the person that’s, you know, trying to tell you, I’m so cool, I’m so cool and like being so overly like expressive with it, you typically are like no you’re not. Like, I don’t believe that. Like there is just something within humans that you can kind of just read people and like yeah you gravitate to people that are real and authentic and confident and maybe you don’t need to be, you know, super showy about that all the time. And I think that’s true.

Dr. Franco: Is that sort of G. Berto’s like quiet seductive nature here? That long flowy hair, that strong jaw?

Travis: Tall, dark, handsome.

Megan: Thoughtful.

Travis: Gloves hardly big enough to fit the hands.

Dr. Franco: What are some…if you had to leave people with a few really kind of strong take-homes in terms of social media and I’d like to get something from both you and G, you know, what would be some tips you would give people about, you know, Instagram, Snapchat, Tik-Tok, YouTube, about how you can use this to help and plus and minuses of it?

Megan: Right. I would say as far as on like the beauty standard idea and the perception of beauty. I mean, to understand that you’re looking at people from all over the world. So you know, to not get too wrapped up in, why don’t I look like that girl, I wanna look like that, to be mindful of that and to appreciate all different types of beauty, all different aesthetics, but also understand it doesn’t mean that you have to look like that. Like there’s not one standard of what’s attractive. And I think that’s important to not get wrapped up in that. I think, you know, a few years back there were a lot of people that were saying that people were starting to kind of look similar. Like there were a lot of trends with fillers and stuff where people’s faces almost were kind of looking a lot alike. And you know, that’s interesting. But I think obviously keeping that natural character to yourself and being unique is important.

Dr. Franco: It’d be boring if we all look the same. I’m saying that with three dudes that all have a half beard, but.

Travis: Dude, this is a full beard.

Dr. Franco: He’s been growing out that for six years. G. Berto, thoughts you have?

Gilberto: I’ll be honest, I’m not great on social media. Like I need to get better at it, but you know, through you and you know, through this podcast, I’m learning so much and you know, I hope that I can use this knowledge to just, you know, maybe create a little bit of a bigger presence. I don’t know that, you know, I’m gonna be someone with, you know, a blue checkmark or anything, but just enough to like help educate, you know, my patients and talk about…

Megan: I will say a little secret about the verification though. A lot of it has to do with news articles. So I was featured in ”New York Times,” ”Austin Magazine.” I did some like stuff for TechCrunch when I sold a company. So a lot of it has to do with that. So you guys have a lot of stuff online, write-ups about you…you can, I mean, I didn’t apply for it, but somehow that works to your advantage.

Dr. Franco: I mean if you’ve been on The Bachelor, would that help?

Megan: On The Bachelor?

Dr. Franco: Yeah.

Megan: Oh yeah.

Dr. Franco: Damn, I’ve been nominating you. I’ve been nominating you. Before we go, I mean, what do you think though? Do you think, you know, if you go back 10, 15 years ago, people were like, “Oh, I don’t know if I wanna be on Google,” website page was kind of optional. And now like if you don’t have a website, I mean you’re dead to the world. I mean, where do you see social media in terms of plastics and aesthetics? I mean, I get the point like not everybody’s gonna have, you know, 8 million YouTube followers and so forth, but I feel like you have to have some presence.

Megan: And not to interrupt you but obviously…

Dr. Franco: No, please do. I do to everybody.

Megan: In your office… Well, this is something I majorly touched on in my recent video. In your office, you have that map where you have pins from all over, people traveling. Are these people finding you through media? Obviously. They’re not just coming to Austin from the Ukraine and walking down the street and like, “Oh, I should go here. They’re finding you online.”

Dr. Franco: We go to this little ugly building, boom, there he is.

Megan: So I mean I think it does affect it a lot.

Travis: Yeah, I think it’s just gonna get bigger and bigger.

Dr. Franco: But don’t you think that at some level you’re gonna have to have some presence?

Travis: Oh, for sure.

Dr. Franco: I just can’t see going 10 years from now you don’t even have any type of YouTube, Instagram, you know, something account.

Travis: I think to be relevant here in the next 5, 10 years, it will be analogous to having a website now. Like it’s gonna have to be a must or you’re lost. You’re gonna be way, way behind.

Dr. Franco: Well Megan, I appreciate you run it today, keeping us in check and keeping this rolling. I think this is a super hot topic. I hope that we can talk more about this because I feel like we’ve just scratched the surface.

Megan: There is so much, honestly.

Dr. Franco: We have a few guests that wanna come on the show for this topic in the future. So I’m just gonna leave that little nugget there for another day, but we’re…

Megan: Since it’s my show today, I’m gonna take over fact or fiction.

Dr. Franco: She seems a little too happy about that.

Megan: Me and my counterparts have collaborated a bit and, Johnny, we have some for you.

Gilberto: Fact or fiction for Dr. Franco.

Dr. Franco: Well, well well this is an interesting turn of events.

Megan: So I was given some help on the questions.

Dr. Franco: That’s interesting.

Megan: So the first one…

Travis: You wanna give him a soft toss to start?

Megan: No.

Travis: Straight to the fire. All right. All right.

Megan: The first one which I can’t say that I came up with this, but how many girls at the moment would say that they are your girlfriend currently? Fact or fiction? Wait, I gotta rephrase that.

Dr. Franco: Let’s go to the rules. That one can’t be asked.
Donald: I will allow it.

Megan: I didn’t relay that properly. I got ahead of myself. Fact or fiction, there are more than three girls that would say that they are currently your girlfriend.

Dr. Franco: I don’t know that they would say they are my…

Megan: It is fact or fiction.

Travis: Dating you.

Dr. Franco: Let’s say dating because I would say zero would say they’re my girlfriend. In terms of dating, I would say the over under will probably be seven. I just kidding. I said that so I can sound cool in front of G. Berto. I’m trying to impress G. Berto.

Travis: We’re scraping G. Berto’s brain off the wall over here, man. His head just exploded.

Gilberto: I thought I knew you.

Megan: Guys, I’ve opened up the floor, so throw in your fact fiction.

Dr. Franco: That’s it? You just came strong? Mama just did one big punch?

Travis: So is it…it is seven?

Dr. Franco: Well, the question was over three. The answer is yes, over three.

Travis: Okay. You have set plans for Valentine’s Day. Fact or fiction.

Dr. Franco: That is fiction. I do not have any plans. Actually, I offered yesterday to make plans with one Fernando. For those of you that don’t know Fernando, he’s an interesting man.

Megan: Who is that?

Dr. Franco: He’s a Valentine’s baby, so he’s actually…

Travis: Is he? I didn’t know that.
Dr Franco: …a friend of mine who was born on Valentine’s Day.

Megan: You’re not dating him.

Dr. Franco: We’re not dating. It was funny because we actually hosted something for the Miss Austin and somebody asked him if I was his partner. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but no I’m not, just to clarify. I have an interesting theory about people born on Valentines, but we’ll…and their love life, but we’ll save that for another day.

Travis: Fair enough. One more. I know the answer to this one already, but I don’t know if everybody does. Factor fiction, you have an obsession with wild socks.

Dr. Franco: That is fact. If you’re asking right now, do I have… Can you…Megan, can you actually read what is on this sock? What does that say?

Megan: It’s a number one.

Dr. Franco: Number one blue ribbon. Yes. You’re welcome.

Travis: It’s not a blue check, but it’s close.

Dr. Franco: It’s not a blue check, but it’s as close as I can get. I appreciate that. Did we do a little bit of behind the [inaudible 00:33:50] today?

Travis: We have not done behind the [inaudible 00:33:51].

Dr. Franco: I feel like Megan should take us behind the camera, behind the…

Travis: Behind the scenes.

Dr. Franco: …behind the ‘gram, maybe? A little surprise here.

Travis: Give us something we don’t know about a social media management or filming content or something like that.

Megan: I mean for me specifically?

Travis: Yeah.

Megan: Something you guys don’t know. You guys obviously know this, but I film most of my videos at like 3 in the morning.

Dr. Franco: I do know that because you’ll text me and say, “Hey, what do you think about this?” And it’s 4 in the morning.

Megan: That’s like my common time to be filming, honestly.

Travis: She’ll respond to our text thread 2:00 a.m.

Dr. Franco: Can I give a behind the scenes to that point?

Travis: Oh yeah.

Dr. Franco: The only overlap that we really have between all of us of time is about 5:30 to 6:30 because Megan is getting ready for bed, you and I are getting up, Gilberto is barely hearing the alarm go and for some reason Donald is still up at this time. And we haven’t…

Travis: Gaming strong.

Dr. Franco: …figured out whether he’s gaming, whether he’s going to bed, whether he’s getting up, but it’s the only two hours that we overlap.

Travis: We all communicate.

Dr. Franco: And what’s next?

Travis: We got a little quote.

Dr. Franco: Yeah, yeah. I know that.

Travis: If I was more organized I’d have it right in front of me. Oh, here we go. Dale Carnegie quote. This is deep guys. Here we go. “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you wanna conquer fear, do not sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”

Dr. Franco: What are you doing to get busy?

Travis: Staying active. No, you gotta take action on things that you are serious about. And I know your social media platform and your stuff did not start itself. My wife’s stuff, it did not start itself. I mean that took just taking action, you know, get it going, start the count, start talking, film it. Do everything you can to be in front of the camera. I mean if you…if that’s what you want to do, go for it all way.

Megan: Yeah. I think for me also it’s like, you know, even doing projects like this, obviously I wasn’t expecting to do a podcast. I’m going out to Miami and do something for Super Bowl. I’m not really big into sports, but I’d like to do some hosting stuff with that. So just accepting opportunities and trying new stuff that maybe you’re not sure how it’s going to go, but at least you know, if you just sit at home and think about all the ways it could go wrong, that’s not being proactive in any way.

Travis: What about G?

Gilberto: Yeah, I mean, just to relate to this podcast it’s been kind of a learning experience and a bit of a journey for myself. I actually kind of put together my first script for a podcast, and so that was kind of interesting. I got a little help from Dr. Franco who kinda guided me, but yeah, it’s been kind of a…just this really amazing opportunity and journey to just try something and explore something new.

Dr. Franco: I see what you did right there because for those of you listening, episode eight is dermal fillers, injectables written and hosted by one G. Berto. So I see what you did there. I like it.

Travis: Great segue.

Dr. Franco: I think that’s a great segue. I’d like to thank everybody for listening. I’d like to thank producer, Donald, for reigning in all these stray cats here. And so we appreciate you. And I’d like to thank everybody at home for listening to the number one podcast voted by producer Donald. So thank you. Boom. See you guys next week for G. Berto.