building on my own land
Well hi, friends. What a ride these past few days have been, huh?
I’ve had thoughts about starting a blog for awhile now, as I’ve been an avid blog-reader since those golden days of blogging back in the 2010s (yep, I’m an elder millennial and proud). I really don’t have any fleshed-out ideas for what I’ll use this space for, if I’ll be posting with any regular cadence, etc…but after yesterday’s social media circus, I have thoughts. And what better way to work through my spiraling than to process it all in writing on a website dedicated to my business? Seems smart. Let’s do it. :)
So, about yesterday. For those who don’t follow social media news as closely as those of us who use it for business, it all began with the Tik Tok ban. Now, hear me when I say: I was kinda for the ban. I tried TikTok and never really got it. To me, the whole point of social media is to be social. To connect with people and build relationships, rather than just scrolling mindlessly through posts from strangers for cheap entertainment. I honestly would love for my kids to never be introduced to it. I don’t pretend to know anything about the national security threats, but I can see how that might be a legitimate reason for banning the app. All this to say, this post is not me being upset about the ban itself.
What I AM upset about is the very transparent political stunt of it all. The painting of a certain someone as a “savior”. It all felt so extraordinarily icky and frankly, sinister.
And thus began my spiraling. Should I even be a part of this? Should I be contributing to a space that can be so easily manipulated for political gain? A space that recently has chosen to let go of fact-checking and to allow hate speech. A space that can be so harmful for our mental health, that makes us compare and feel as though we’re falling short. A space that constantly convinces us that we’re not enough, that we need more. A space where alarmist headlines and gimmicky hooks are prioritized by the algorithm over anything with actual depth or originality.
To be completely honest, if I didn’t use instagram for my business, I would be gone without hesitation. And I wouldn’t blame you for choosing to do the same.
But that’s the tricky part. So much of my business, my way of reaching people about my work, my connection to my community, my livelihood is tied up in social media. And that’s what feels ickiest of all. Do I stick with my moral compass and leave something that feels so inherently wrong and so unhealthy for us? Or do I stay because my business likely won’t survive without it?
Ugh.
Years ago I heard the advice that as business owners, we should be be wary of building on “rented land”. And what is “rented land”, exactly? It’s any platform that you don’t own. Social media, platforms like Etsy, anything that could suddenly change its policies and/or disappear, leaving you without everything you’ve built.
And what land do we own, then? Email newsletters. Websites and blogs, to a degree. If social media were to suddenly disappear tomorrow, we’d still be able to reach those who have signed up for our email list.
I’m thankful that I listened to that advice back then and that I have a fairly solid email list. I LOVE writing those monthly emails, too, by the way. I feel very safe in that space as it’s not technically “posted” anywhere, and tend to share a bit more openly about personal things in addition to the updates from my business. That long-form content tends to feel more personal, intentional, and ultimately more “me” than what I share on instagram.
So now the question that I’m wrestling with is whether or not I have the guts to fully abandon social media in exchange for my email newsletter and this baby blog that I’m starting.
While I think the blog and email newsletter will nurture and provide value to the audiences I already have, I have a hard time imagining how more people would discover my work without social media. And maybe that’s okay? Maybe my business could survive on word of mouth alone? On making a good enough product that it just speaks for itself? But whew, if I’m honest, it’s very scary to think about making that leap.
I wish I had an answer and could tie all of this up in a nice bow, but I’m not there yet. What I do want is to be transparent with anyone who follows me on social media. That I feel very conflicted about it all, as I know so many of you are. That I wouldn’t blame you for deactivating and going offline (and that I’d probably be jealous of you for doing it). That I wish the absolute best for you, and that I have always wanted to create a space for connection and inspiration rather than division and feelings of not-enough-ness.
And maybe that’s why I’ll end up choosing to stay. To try to bring as much light as I can to what is feeling more and more like a dark place.
Time will tell.
Ultimately, thank you so much for being in my corner. While I have so many issues with social media, I am grateful for how it has connected me with so many of you. I hope we can continue those relationships forward in a way that feels healthy and uplifting for all of us.
Thanks for reading, and much love,
P.S. If you want to follow the blog from an RSS Reader (I’ve always used Feedly), click on the little “Blog RSS” thing below. I think. I don’t know, I’m new to this, okay? :)