I’m probably the last person who’s allowed to be upset about losing their social media accounts, having proclaimed my new and wild despair at the loss of true creativity it encouraged. The reason I became so passionately dispirited is because I had once loved it so much.
Now that both Instagram and Facebook are gone, it’s brought a few things into a new perspective.
I’ve often thought social media is like a fancy sandpit where everyone can jump in and make something. It’s a place to play, be expressive and use your voice.
Creating content is to tell stories, to reach people, to make them laugh, to offer a different viewpoint, or help them get out of their own way.
And because stories are the most powerful vehicle we have, and when we combine that with the technology we have at our fingertips? It’s the kind of reaction that Captain Planet would envy.
If used well, social media can be an inspiring, entertaining, uplifting, educational space. It’s an absolute goldmine of community, knowledge and encouragement. Plus, without it, where would we find the amazing animal compilations and things like ‘If Birds Had Arms.’ (My new fave thing.)
I made friends and connections on Instagram and Facebook I never would have otherwise: Ballerinas, jewellery designers, TV executives, photographers, best selling authors, coaches and more.
I’ve connected with communities and individuals that help push my dreams forwards.
So, it does matter. Creating and reaching people matters.
But it also matters HOW we do this. So, no. I didn’t want to keep up with the insanity of the algorithm, or be a part of the rushed, repetitive, regurgitated “creativity” that was filling our feeds. But I still wanted to be there and create on my terms.
And I sure as heck wanted to keep all my hard work, my conversations, moments, comments and connections.
While social media woes are truly a first world problem, there were some real threats in the recent h*cking to my security, finances and identity. So, even though I don’t want to keep going on about it, one of the ways I thought I could create good out of this saga is to help prevent it from happening to others. So I’ve got a couple of security tips and things I learned the hard way here in this episode. Also there’s some encouragement for you, if you’re feeling a bit blah about the whole social media thing.
On a personal note, I wanted to document this for myself. It’s only now, after fully cleaning up the situation and feeling safer online, I’ve had time to try and capture some of the process.
Part of the issue when this happens to you is that it’s so draining, it’s hard to explain it to people and no-one can believe that it is this insane and impossible to get assistance. No matter which avenue for help I have tried, through both Instagram and Facebook, it ultimately arrives at them asking me to try logging in from a computer I’ve used to access the account before. Which, I am. I’m using the same one I was on when I watched the hacker take down my account.
Fun fact - the person who did this still has their Facebook account. Should I publicly disclose them? Thoughts?
Oh! And something I forgot to mention in the episode is that you can actually download all of your content from both Instagram and Facebook, (it takes a few days and they will email it to you in individual folders) but it’s worth it, in case if you ever do lose access to your accounts.
Anyway. Super casual episode today. Hope it helps at least one other person.
xx
PS This episode is the last full energy I’ll devote to this topic. Back to normal lovely things from here.
For those who are interested - below the endless loop of insanity Meta sends you on. I did this for myself at one point because I thought maybe I was missing something. But no, it really is this useless.
Ep 6: Why social media matters...