It was coming up to 4pm on a Friday afternoon and I wanted to escape my real job for a few moments and I stumbled upon this post from Fiona Likes To Blog about ‘Why does blogging need to be positive?’
Which encouraged me to read another post from a lovely lady called Vix Meldrew and everything she read began to resonate with me…
The problem is, some people spend so much time creating an online persona and actually forget who they really are or the people who actually matter….
Who matters?
Your readers, the ones that buy your suggested pieces, those who take the time to comment, consider what you’ve written and compliment/agree with/follow you.
They really DO matter, these people give you some of their precious time.
There’s a very fine line for sponsored content…
Yes, I do write sponsored content as my blog has become my part-time business and I do, like many businesses have to make money. Yet it’s extremely important that I am striking the right balance, I want to make sure that my content is interesting for my readers, rather than just a source of income for me.
But, why do so many people forget this?
There are many reasons, we all have to pay bills and if it’s a primary source of income, can you really blame someone? Another way of looking at it, is simply we all enjoy and engage with different content, what might not interest you, could interest 1,000 others.
Should honesty come first?
Yes. There’s already too much dishonesty on social media, with people buying followers and staging situations it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s acting. This is where the simple beauty of sharing our words and stories should come to play. For me, there are times when it’s easier for me to let my words flow through text, rather than speaking up, being behind a screen gives me more confidence.
That’s not to say that dishonesty is easy to see and many folk find themselves being caught out, create an online persona by all means, but stay true to you and your readers.
My friend goes to the same gym as a very well-known Vlogger/Blogger and let me tell you this, from what I’ve heard her real-life persona couldn’t be more different. I’m not going to name people or make presumptions, we all have a right to privacy especially at the gym. Saying that I was surprised about her ‘alternative personality’ but on the other hand, what did I expect from her? I sometimes forget that bloggers are people, not entertainers.
But do bloggers become, entertainers?
Snap chat is every cool kid’s platform, now we have the added extra being entertaining on Instagram too and suddenly the pressure is on even more. Not only do you need to create engaging content, you NEED to be likeable, down to earth, with an envy-inducing life. Oh, if you’re not pretty? Then you darn well have to be witty.
I enjoy watching the snaps which are natural, I like seeing glimpses of the real person, the flaws and when the ‘acting’ stops. If you watch someone enough, you’ll quickly start to grasp what’s for the camera and what’s real.
Sometimes, I think we expect them to remember us and want to be our friend and then when we meet people in real life who don’t live up to our expectations it’s disappointing. More and more bloggers with a large social media following are being asked to give talks/appear on TV and I think it’s easy to forget that these people might not have formal training. It’s entirely plausible to find someone who is so very practised at a certain online ‘persona’ to fall apart in real life or not live up to the very persona they created for themselves.
On the other hand, there’s NO excuse for rudeness, there’s no excuse or reason to ignore someone and arrogance won’t grow your following.
I don’t wish to sound petty, but I’m 32 and I’ve met a lot of people over my time. I watched a small group of women, one of whom boasts over 100k followers, at a fitness event. At every possibility they snuck into the side wings to gossip and then flounced around with fake laughter and painted smiles, it was like mean girls but ‘today we wear Lorna Jane, not pink’.
I went home and had an unfollowing spree.
But let’s remember, we are only humans, we aren’t always funny or beautiful, and sometimes we work in our pj’s and our dinner is often not Instagram worthy.
I’m guilty…
Maybe I should have shown you the CCTV footage of me jumping out my car, opening my arms and running towards my boyfriend, only to fall flat on my face. Or that killer interval session on the treadmill when I was clad in a sports bra, Bridget Jones pants and compression socks.
I’m guilty of taking 50 photos and only using 10.
Or sweeping over the fact I sat in Burger King recently and ate the biggest burger and chips I could buy.
Not everyone is a bad egg…
Some people are shy, some people find social events HARD and we do need to keep that in mind and respect that. I’m chatty, enthusiastic and I love to meet people I follow, not everyone feels’s the same and I feel that we do need to keep this in mind, even if they can walk the walk and talk the talk on snap chat.
I just want to make friends, write blog post’s and enjoy reading other peoples content.
Let me tell you something, you’ll never regret being kind, even if being kind is just responding to someone taking the time to stop and say hi. That shouldn’t be classed as being kind, it’s just good manners.
If you do meet me at an event, say hello because I’ll appreciate it and always want to talk. But first, let me just apologise for my wonky teeth, hyena laugh and crazy fringe…
Have you ever felt excluded from an event? Or ignored by someone you considered an online friend? Just one thing, please don’t name people…. (Thank you)
Katie
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