Till a few years back, I used to share my blog posts to social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and at one point, Twitter and Instagram too. WordPress had a plug-in that would automatically share the link to my accounts on these platforms. I was never a social media person but I used to do it nevertheless, because I used to get likes and comments from people. It was a form of validation. I felt my writing was reaching readers.
Over a period of time, these platforms started putting restrictions. To start with, posts that had external links weren’t shown to users much. So for most of my posts which had links from my website blog, the impressions (as in how many people were shown it) dropped dramatically.
Next came the toll surcharge to reach people. There were just so many people posting so much that their algorithm which already prioritized based on its own parameters, now started charging if they wanted the posts to be seen.
I stopped posting to social media and then when I restarted for a while, they started treating individual and page accounts differently, those who were regular users versus those who were sporadic differently. It was a game that required too much guessing.
Over time, it stopped working altogether, so I got off all these accounts because I wasn’t much of a social media user except as a writer anyway.
Why am I writing all this? Well, I found some parallels in another experience a few days back.
The other day I was at a football game, and it struck me that one of the reasons why social media doesn’t work anymore for writers or professionals/companies (especially who aren’t that well-known) is because it is like shouting in a stadium. It is so noisy and everyone is shouting so loudly anyway, that your message will not be heard.
Even if you shout loud enough when it is relatively quiet, no one is at the stadium to listen to your message. So even if it goes across, no one is going to get engaged with it. Everyone is there to see the game.
So the only way to get attention on social media is to be a player who is in the field. That’s when the entire stadium is watching you. Social media works only if you are already a celebrity or somewhat famous, and it is a way for your fans to connect with you. It is not a platform where you can get fans unless you already have them.
And another parallel I found is that because everyone is looking at the field and the players, the advertisements on the ground and the players’ jerseys or caps or sports equipment are a good way to get attention. That is why paid advertisements on social media or paying money to influencers might work better out there.
Once this hit me, I realized that I don’t need any social media accounts if my goal is to get my writing to reach readers. I can do it for fun and as a pastime, but expecting new readers is foolish. Readers need a separate platform, a different way to discover writers. Perhaps being an advertiser or hiring influencers may be better.
Otherwise, readers are not going to find a non-celebrity writer in a crowded loud stadium who is just posting about his own writing. That is not going to happen. The only thing that artist might end up getting is a sore throat.
***