The Butterfly Effect is an American science fiction movie starring Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart. The title refers to a popular theory that a single act like a butterfly flapping its wings somewhere can have a ripple effect and cause a typhoon and wreak havoc on the other side of the world. In other words, small initial differences may result in large unforeseen consequences over time. Now, let’s look at the terms ‘social butterfly’ and ‘social media butterfly’.
Some people are very sociable and they enjoy talking to others and making friends with them. They easily break the ice and connect with anyone they come across. These people with excellent social skills are called social butterflies. Here is a definition of the term: “a slang term for a person who is socially dynamic, networking, charismatic, and personally gregarious”.
Examples: My brother knows everyone in his school because he’s such a social butterfly.
I enjoy being alone and I never get bored; I’m not a social butterfly.
Almost everyone is active on social media. Some of them proudly state that they have over five thousand friends on Facebook or Instagram. They enjoy interacting with online friends for hours. Such people who are active on social media and have many online friends are called social media butterflies. The term ‘social media butterfly’ has both positive and negative connotations. According to urbandictionary.com, it is usually used to describe someone who is “always connected to social media sites giving updates constantly, yet rarely is social with any of the friends or followers in real life”. Business people use various social media channels to advertise their products and services and can also be called social media butterflies.
There are many advantages of being a social butterfly or a social media butterfly.
Almost all my classmates are social media butterflies but I’m not.
The idiomatic expression ‘have butterflies in one’s stomach’ is used to describe a situation when someone has a feeling of nervousness or anxiety before making a speech as if the person has swallowed a butterfly that causes some fluttering sensations or inconvenience in the stomach. We can use expressions such as ‘feel butterflies’, ‘get butterflies’, ‘give butterflies’, etc. The idiom ‘as gaudy as a butterfly’ means fancy or very colourful.
If you wear the dress, you’ll look as gaudy as a butterfly.
