I listened to an interesting podcast episode by Cal Newport this week (Artists Revolt Against Social Media).
I recommend the episode and won't try to summarize it here, other than to say that some artists (and Cal) make a good case for moving away from centralized social networks controlled by large corporations in favor of distributed networks, which are just smaller/localized communities that serve to create online spaces for people to connect and share their work without being controlled by algorithms and metrics.
Large networks like Facebook and Instagram hold out the promise of helping you to "reach more people" or potentially to "go viral" so that you can "build a following."
Is that what we want as clinicians, though?
One of the things I emphasize for practitioners is that your numbers on social media - follower or subscriber count, likes and shares, etc - don't matter that much.
We aren't trying to be influencers.
We aren't writing to/connecting with "the public."
We're trying to be visible to people who may be served by our work.
Most of the time, these are people that we meet slowly over time, one by one, by showing up in places where they are and by sharing more about what we do and how we help - essentially, by getting to know these people as individuals.
Social media offers the promise of skipping that one-by-one work, which is typically slow and requires a great deal of bravery and personal growth.
What might it look like (and feel like) to let go of creating for a nameless/faceless global network and to tap into or create smaller distributed networks around your work and within your community?
Ideas for this might be connecting via a newsletter (my fav), a discord group, regular in person meetings announced by flyers or text messages, neighborhood listservs, among others.
The artists in the podcast episode are quitting social media in favor of creating websites and connecting within smaller networks. Maybe you can, too.
Take care,
Camille
