Category: Social Media

BLOGS DIDN’T DIE

Most people would just rather log into one app and be spoon-fed “content” every day than be responsible for searching for, finding, and discovering new things to read and enjoy on the internet.

Social media made everyone think that there needs to be one channel, one source for everything. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are like the big three channels our parents had growing up. Like, “Welp, that’s it! That’s all the choices we have!”

But it’s not.

All this talk about discovery. Are you kidding? If you’re on social media, go find that one fascinating character. Now, see who they follow.

There – you now have 600-2000 people to dig through and find some interesting people doing cool things.

Yes, I subscribe to 322 newsletters via Substack. You can find a list of them here.

Discovery? It’ll take you days to sift through all those.

We used to discover bands from the thanks lists on cassettes and CDs, from the shirts that artists wore in their music videos, or from the ones they brought with them on tour.

There is a whole world of discovery out there that we’re missing because we’re letting social media algorithms dictate what’s most interesting.

We’re all anti-A.I. but we sure seem fine with computers influencing our taste.

STOP BUILDING ACCOUNTS

Jamie R Cox with a reality check:

“If you only exist in the minds of your consumers as an Instagram handle, you haven’t built a brand. You’ve built an account.”

When I had an Instagram, I may have followed a lot of runners, but once I deleted my account, those runners were gone.

Same with the bands, artists, designers, and photographers I followed.

Hardly anyone pushed me off the app and into their own world – their own website, email list, nothing.

One runner I’ve followed for years – they recently ran the Western States 100 mile ultramarathon. Since I wasn’t on Instagram, I went to their website, which was just a bunch of products for sale. A lot of static bits and pieces.

But oh – they had an email list sign up! I entered my info, and got an email a few seconds later, telling me I was already on the list.

Ooops – I had been on their list for well over a year, and didn’t even remember. I definitely didn’t get anything regarding this big upcoming race, but when I clicked over to the web-version of their Instagram account – woo! There were like a thousand new photos and videos and long captions and stories and reels…

All of which could easily ported to their own website.

I get it – you can’t be everywhere, but… once a fan leaves one of those platforms, what are they left with?

The web is ubiquitous, and so is email. Every smartphone ships with a web browser and an email app.

But if all you have is an Instagram account – I mean, nevermind the weirdos like me who aren’t on social media anymore. There’s people who don’t use Instagram, but will spend hours on TikTok, you know? Or Threads, or Facebook(?!).

It’s time to stop letting our websites be the most boring, out of date corner of your online world. Post photos, stories, rants, memes… stop giving your best material away to platforms that limit your reach, and keep you locked into their universe.

YOUR ART NEEDS MORE OF YOUR ART

I believe a few things in my line of work:

Let people know what you’re doing.

By this, I mean when you have a new song, exhibit, drawing, or idea, you should share it with your audience or your fans.

Like Rick Rubin says, “make stuff, and show it to your friends.”

Let people know what you’re doing in a way that is as creative as the work itself.

Established artists can send out a flyer with a BUY NOW button because they have the luxury of being established artists.

Radiohead and Beyonce can drop a surprise album because they’re Radiohead and Beyonce.

You’re not Radiohead or Beyonce.

Posting “here’s my new thing” and a link gets lost in the river of content, because everyone posts “here’s my new thing” every hour of the day, week after week, year after year.

“Meritocracy is a myth,” says Delon Om. “I always believed that my art would speak for itself- that its merit would earn recognition and validation. Unfortunately, I have learned that is not the case.”

It’s never been easier to distribute your work and get it seen by a million people by lunchtime, but because everyone can do that, it’s also never been harder.

This video from Noah Kalina documents how he captured a photo and made it into a print, which sold out in a few hours. To my knowledge, he only mentioned this offering in his video, which “only” got about 900 views in a month, but his work doesn’t just speak for itself. His work is the work, and his art is the art. It’s all Noah Kalina.

He didn’t just post “new print for sale” on his Instagram Threads and call it a day.

He spent many hours making that art and told his friends about it in a 100% Noah Kalina way.

Bobby Hundreds doesn’t need to write 500+ word newsletters, he’s Bobby Hundreds! He could easily get away with posting his random thoughts and links to new endeavors. But I imagine someone like Bobby has so much creativity coursing through his veins that he’s compelled to share more about the big things he’s doing.

QUESTION: How can your creative spirit inform how you tell your friends about your work?

ADS COMING TO THREADS

That nice user experience you’ve got on Instagram Threads will end right on schedule, of course.

“Threads is still a loss leader for Meta financially, though it can certainly afford to fund it indefinitely. Internally, I’m told execs are thinking about turning on ads in Threads sometime next year, though the exact plan is still up in the air.”

Yeah yeah yea, they’re thinking about it. Of course they are, and will. That’s how companies make money.

It’s remarkable how Cory Doctorow’s “enshittification” playbook is followed like a road map by these shit companies.

“Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.

Via The Verge

TOO MANY OPTIONS

Photo by Seth Werkheiser

The more I think about the marketing machine, and the how and the why and the strategies involved, the more it all seems impossible.

Like, everyone who wants to “get the word out” about their thing is competing with a million other people doing the same thing. Some of it rises to the top because it’s what everyone is talking about – tech reviews, AI, sports, Star Wars, etc.

Other folks who do stuff that’s not quite as “big,” well, they’re lost in the fray, unless we’re talking about BookTok, of course.

But like, do “we” need to be in all these popular online places to make it? Is it required?

I think about the tiny Chinese restaurant I visit in Palmerton, PA. They’re not on social media, nor do they need to be. People in that town (or people passing through, like me) want Chinese food.

They have it. That’s a simple and direct choice.

And I feel like when you have that immediate want, say, for Chinese food, you’re going to look locally.

And if the grass is getting too high in your yard, you have to get someone to cut it.

But a lot of other things – how to draw, people who talk about email newsletters with creative people (that’s me!), how to write better… there are a zillion options for everything out there, and no real guarantee that any of them are going to help in the end.

Chinese food? That’s simple. You can solve that problem in an hour.

All the other creative / strategy / marketing stuff? Endless variations of possible solutions, directions, and options.

NO QUICK FIX

Photograph by Seth Werkheiser

Social media sold us on the idea that we can just post and lots of people would see it. 

This was true for a moment, but it was a house of cards. As more and more people post more often 24/7, there are only so many people who can see everything that is posted.

The “reach” was a lie. It helped lots of people, yes, until it didn’t. So now, as we enter a post-social media world, we’re left searching for NEW apps and algorithms, but it’s just more of the same, and it will likely end the same way.

Resist the quick fix, the shortcut. One subscriber to your email list is worth the work, the struggle, the grind.

SEARCHING

Photo by Seth Werkheiser

Love this from Mehret Biruk:

“I’m not searching for gmail.com, I’m searching for something, something of the past. That feeling. When I first learned to want and be wanted in a specific way; differently. All of it happened over the internet, the devices, the notifications. And what can I do about it now? Except hope that with enough time, enough effort, I will learn to forget the notifications. I will learn to want and be wanted in other ways; differently. Offline.”

From ‘Angry and curious‘

I do the same with email. Let me check one more time. Before a run. After a run. When I get home. As dinner is heating up. During dinner.

I’m searching for something. That email from someone that will sweep me off my feet. The job offer. The opportunity that gift wrapped from the universe just for me.

As Mehret says, time to deflect this feeling into something in the offline world, without a screen. I feel I get this more and more just by being outside. Finding myself stepping away from the computer more often. Going for walks. Long runs. Using my camera more often.

The search online never ends, but time on earth sure does.

RETURN TO THE WEB

The only thing holding us back from having the internet experience is ourselves.

“Nothing about the web has changed that prevents us from going back. If anything, it’s become a lot easier. We can return.“

This from Molly White, in a piece called ‘We can have a different web.’

We can set up websites for cheap, using a multitude of tools. We can create directories, or field guides, or fan pages for anything we want.

We can link to each others things from our websites, our newsletters, our DMs, our Discords or forums.

It might feel slower, since techbros at social media giants have been feeding you the Kool-Aid that without them you’ll turn to dust, but that just ain’t true.