Category: Social MediaCategory: Social Media

Taylor Swift controls all her music, and she even controlled the news, driving zillions of people away from social media to her website with a post saying “Letter on my site.”

No, you’re probably not as big as Taylor Swift. But will you get to her level faster playing the same social media lottery with everyone else?

What if you spent hours every day practicing? Honing your skills? Connecting not with legions of people but a few good ones?

Sure, social media can help you find an audience. But a website with a newsletter sign up form can help you keep one.

 

Had an amazing chat with artist David Speed on his Creative Rebels podcast:

“Navigating (social media) is hard, so I was so happy to chat with Seth Werkheiser who offers a bunch of alternative ways to connect with your audience. Ways that don’t involve spending six hours producing a video that won’t be shown to the people who have chosen to follow you!”

We end our chat talking about this post ‘Outdated expectations kill creative dreams,” which is about my dad, and I was surprised to find myself getting emotional talking about it, but that’s where the conversation went!

Give a listen to the full 57 minute interview on Substack or Apple Podcasts.

One of the best ways to start getting away from social media is to think about where we put our stuff. We’re so conditioned to upload a photo, a thought, a hot-take to social media because we know something will happen – likes, comments, shares, etc. It’s absolutely the slot machine at the casino – insert coin, pull the lever, and something will happen.

Instead of posting that photo for “everyone,” try sending it to a friend and see what happens. Send it to another, with a little note.

Maybe post that photo on your blog and write a bit about it, and send a newsletter later to let people know about it.

Instead of posting your “hot takes” and opinions and ideas onto a platform to be monetized by Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, use them elsewhere for your benefit.

As I wrote a year ago in ‘Practice leaving social media,’ “the spontaneous bits you’d post on social media can be the source material for your next newsletter, text to a pal, Discord group, or next live Zoom hangout with good people.”

We won’t get the same dopamine hit from these actions. They won’t go viral. But maybe they’re the start of something better, like deeper relationships, or strengthening friendships.

It’s hard to be good friends with 10 people in your life when you’re always trying to entertain 1,000 strangers.

What’s your sense of the moment we’re living in now, in terms of art and communication, compared to a few years ago?

It’s probably biased, because I talk to a lot of people who are looking to get away from social media. But that’s okay, that’s who I want to talk to. I don’t want to talk to people about maximizing reach with paid ads on Facebook, I want to talk to people printing out their poetry and leaving copies around town.

Read more of this interview over at Soul Writer.

It’s as if these social media platforms (including Substack Notes) are designed to instill feelings of “not doing enough” that pulls us closer to engaging with their bullshit games for bullshit prizes.

Your work isn’t meant for the carnival circuit – “step right up, spin the wheel!”

Your work is the quiet corner of a library or the small group Zoom calls. Your essays and poems bloom in time, right where they are.