Social Media – A Cautionary Tale
As a writer I am constantly reading and hearing about the importance of my author platform and my own brand. But Social Media does not come naturally to me. Not only am I late adopter, but I have sometimes felt like a forced adopter.
I finished reading the The Circle by Dave Eggers this weekend. I enjoyed the book. It was chilling. It is a work of fiction, but it certainly struck a chord. It is all about transparency, communication and connecting, but when are we too connected? When should it stop? What are the boundaries? The Circle starts out as platform similar to Facebook but it allows no anonymity and only one online identity. That means no trolls, no nameless comments, and no hacks. Dave Eggers creates a world where nothing is hidden, nothing is deleted and everything is shared. Everything. Sounds good, right?
It is written as a first person account of a woman who sounded as if she were joining a cult. It was a scary balance between believable and ridiculous, but Mae, the protagonist is so convinced the company is right that you have to keep shaking your head to remind yourself that it is a bad idea.
Source for Comic
What do we do when Facebook changes the rules?
After I finished this book Amanda Patterson sent me a few links. We have been discussing the Writers Write views and likes and shares and tweets that these posts generate and how to improve them. We agree that we prefer organic growth and do not believe in paying to promote posts or paying for likes. Turns out we were right. Paying for likes doesn’t help, especially when that like is generated by a robot and not a person. You can read the full article here: The End of Facebook .There is also the problem of the filtered feed and how your reach decreases as your page size grows. Read the article here: Why Is Facebook Page Reach Decreasing?
It seems we are stuck between two extremes. Knowing too much and not knowing enough. Who gets to decide what we are privy to and what remains a secret? What is real and what is not?
Should people be allowed to post anonymously? Should we have multiple identities and hide behind pictures instead of real profile pictures? One true identity means that Facebook won’t be able to generate fake likes, but anonymity is my privilege is it not?
It sure made me think. I understand that it is silly to base my fears on a work of fiction, but it gives me pause. I am probably naïve to believe this hasn’t been happening all along. But my question is: Should I be investing as much time as I am as a writer on any platform that can be manipulated in a world that isn’t physical? I am sure the other social media platforms will be doing this soon, if they aren’t already. And if we don’t use social media what do we use?
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by Mia Botha
1 thought on “Social Media – A Cautionary Tale”
i don’t know much about social media and building a platform either, but i have noticed that people love getting “likes” and “follows” depending on the site. i started using twitter a few months ago, and since then i’ve been approached by several people offering “followers” for sale. seems super odd to me that someone would pay for that sort of thing.
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