There’s an inherent problem with being a blogger in today’s world: the compulsion to be on social media. It’s a necessary evil of marketing and something that most sponsors will want (if not require) for you to be considered as a potential collaborator.
The issue lies in how shitty social media is, though. I think that we (bloggers) have fallen into the trap of “well, everyone else is there so guess I have to be, too” and are sticking to these platforms because it just feels like there’s no other choice, mental health be damned.
Late in 2021, I decided to just fuck off and delete my personal accounts that were tied to Meta/Facebook. I haven’t completely jumped ship off social totally but any updates that are made can either be attributed to automation or just an Adderall-induced whim.
Now that I’ve been away from Facebook and Instagram for a few months I gotta tell you, I don’t miss it in the slightest. I sometimes wonder if my social media friends think I died since it was pretty abrupt, but that’s really the only thought I give it.
The biggest challenge I’ve found is debating on my marketing and partnership strategy going forward for my other blogs. Deleting my personal accounts has also made me draw a line in the sand about what I’m willing to do for my business side and I’m just not going back to IG/FB. I can’t stand the hypocritical feelings I have when I’m there and so it’s just not worth it.
So I’m reworking my strategy for Pinterest, Google/SEO, and YouTube to an extent. For the record, I know that Google/YouTube isn’t a bastion of ethics either but right now it’s the devil I’d rather dance with. I’m wondering, going forward, how these changes will work in terms of traffic, collaborations, and just really my willingness to put effort into all of it.
Running 4 total blogs + a professional freelance writing career isn’t easy and requires more discipline than I really think I have so we’ll see how well I do in terms of consistency. But I’m feeling really happy with this decision to leave Zuckerburg’s mountain of shit and relearn how to market successfully without it.
