Years ago the multiple accounts in RainbowMaille's name seemed like a good thing (I thought) because it made the search of my business name a full page of google results, and being easy to find was supposed to be important. 😐 However, these days it doesn't seem to make any difference what I do, how often I post, or even what I post. The fb page is a "business" page so I tried to keep in business-y but no one interacts with it much. The instagram was supposed to humanize me as an artist, so show multiple facets of my life, but again not a lot of interaction. Threads is new and stupid and I still don't get the point of it so I don't use it much, but I've tried and yeah little to no views or interactions. Pinterest gets the most traffic and views but still doesn't generate sales, likely just people looking for ideas they can make themselves. 😏 So yeah really what the heck is the point of any of it?
I posted this adorable photo of my tiny kitty taking up the whole couch and made a joke in the caption and fb showed it to 18 whole people none of which even liked the photo 😕I mean how can anyone not like a cat photo?!?!
Seriously the last thing I posted on threads was a link to the last blog post and even though I have 99 "followers" it was only seen by 6 people 😞 it got 1 like and that was my childhood BFF.
So really what is the point? What am I doing wrong? Why is life a freaking popularity contest? And how is the awkward, social anxiety riddled high-school loaner supposed to get anywhere in this hellscape of "social media"?!?! Well according to facebook I just have to pay, boost every post is their "Tip" and at ridiculous rates. The most recent suggestion about the previous post suggestions for only $140 they will show it to almost as many people as I have followers, yeah, I do not believe their promised numbers because time after time they have lied and failed.
also since when does one have to "boost" a cat photo, facebook was built on people sharing pet photos 😕😞
I started trying to look for some local craft events, because in-person sales are often better than online, but you still have to use things like facebook to find local events. And in typical social media everyone lies fashion, the first event I found that sounded like it might be good for me was lying about its' location. 😠 Naming an event "Indianapolis" anything when the actual event is in Kokomo an hour away from Indy is a blatant LIE to me. WTF? Like who does that? It is a gross misrepresentation, literally false advertising (it was a sponsored fb post) and there are people in the comments trying to justify the lie.
For those that aren't familiar with the area
Kokomo is NOT Indy, when I look for local events, I want actual LOCAL events not stuff that is an hour or more drive. When I commented on the post that it was false advertising and their lying about the location will prevent me from considering vending with them instead of addressing my comment, they just deleted it.
So, someone tell me again how great facebook is and how important to everyday life and business this pile of lies is, because I'm not buying it, literally I do not believe it and I'm not paying for it. 😐
Now you just watch because of the clickbait-y nature of the title this will get more attention than anything else I posted this year. 😒 Which will just prove and support my point that the entire "social media" concept is about psychology and manipulation and the dishonesty at the core is what I really have a problem with.
Ok, yeah—I'm gonna be that guy who responds to this out of nowhere, just like you said you'd get.
ReplyDeleteI. Absolutely. Empathize.
I experience the same thing. It's like screaming into a void. Social Media is broken (thank you predatorial walled gardens) and the sheeple still use them because they think they still work. Rinse and repeat.
Until all those events and businesses realize they're getting taken advantage of just like everyone else and their reach genuinely sucks, nothing will change. But they're stuck in the cognitive dissonance just like everyone else, so they refuse to see it.
Please try to remember that you're taking active steps to disempower their grip on your future. I don't know if you use other platforms, but sometimes it makes me feel better to make a flurry of comments on other people's posts on non-Meta platforms just so I can feel I'm connecting—even if it's one way—and scraping away at the concrete wall with my spoon. Every scratch counts. Try to apply your own engagement on other platforms to undermine those mega corporation throttles.
It's far too easy to let Social Media manipulate your sense of worth. Don't let them. We may have drunk the kool-aid years ago, but we don't have to continue to chug it now. Progress is going to feel slow, like baby steps even, because we've been programmed to believe it should happen faster and it doesn't anymore. Keep putting yourself out there. That in itself is an act of resistence and validation.
First, let me say "Thank you" for proving me right. . .proving my point. . .proving to me that I'm not alone in feeling this way. 😎
DeleteI genuinely appreciate your comment and in "true proving the point" fashion your comment is the first comment on this blog since Christmas and actually the longest comment ever in the 9 years this blog has been here. 😅
So, seriously welcome and Thank you, for extra irony points you share a name with my husband, I literally asked him if he posted this. 🤣 (he said no)
I'm just sick of the fakeness and lies, I feel like almost everything has become a blatant misrepresentation, every photo is edited within an inch of its' life or is just completely AI fake. I can't keep up with that, well honestly, I don't WANT to because it doesn't feel honest, I like my photos with natural shadows and true colors. 😏 I do not want or need to be "prefect" I'd just like to feel like all the effort I put in actually mattered.
Do you have a favorite non-meta platform? I've never been a twitter or reddit user, and I don't keep up on new things coming out. 🙃
I dropped Meta and X a long time ago. So I use Bluesky, Cara, Mastodon, Pixelfed, and Artfol now. None of them have the userbase that Meta's platfroms have.
DeleteBut some caveats. I hated Twitter, and Bluesky is pretty much the same microblogging soundbite paradigm. It feels a bit "performative" in a way.
Secondly, I feel there's a difference between Social Media and Social Networks. All the the platforms I mentioned above (save Bluesky, which sorts straddles the two types) are social networks. They are usually run by deeply dedicated individuals or small teams, don't use ads, may or may not have algorithms that are relevant, and mostly exist through crowd-finding donations. Their emphasis is on building community, so they're relatively "business-free". Brands may have a home on these platforms, but since they can't make money through paying for ads, they don't quite know what to do…
Networks rely upon human conversation, comments, and boosting each other's work. It's what Social Media used to be in the beginning, and most folks honestly don't know what to do with it with it…They've become reliant on algorithms pushing their stuff. And on Networks, there isn't one. So they have to work to connect. And that's hard.
Most of the platforms I mentioned above are community-first oriented, and actively go out of their way to make "virality" secondary or not even possible. Most of them were created to be the antithesis of Social Media.
So this is what I suggest: Prioritize making friends in a community where you can share your stuff, and the secondary consequence is that you will slowly—*slowly*—start to develop reach. The days of an algorithm splamming our stuff by casting a wide net are over. Now it's all about "sharing through the backdoor" in some ways.
Does that make sense at all? Try Cara for a community of other artists. Try a Mastodon server for non-artist community that's more global (I suggest Mastodon.social becuase it's US-based and everyone is required to be nice as part of the user agreement). Try Bluesky for a younger crowd and short, blasted updates that are current. Try Artfol for a young, heavily Anime/Manga influenced community of artists.
None of them will be a one-to-one substitute for Meta, because they're actively trying not to be. And that's good, in a lot of ways.
Thanks for that awesome explanation, I've only heard of half of those, so I'll have to do some investigating. 😎
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