Trending-Bloggers being authentic with their Followers
Happy Monday lovelies! Have you seen the latest?
Over the past couple of weeks there has been a lot of conversation around bloggers not be “authentic” or “real” with their followers. I’ve stayed pretty quiet and just observed what’s been happening. The reactions and responses from not only influencers, but people who follow these accounts has been so interesting. Bloggers being authentic with their followers are now having to defend themselves on Instagram, in order to not receive hate.
I’ve watched one account in general attack bloggers. Saying that they are fake people who are creating unrealistic goals for their subscribers. I have a hard time with this, but we’ll get to that later. This same account has made themselves “famous” by insulting and bullying bloggers, because they want people to be “real.” Hmm okay. Backwards in my book, but to each their own. Not only has this account made fun of bloggers for months and years, they are now on a holier than though run. Claiming that their mission is to make Instagram real again. That bloggers are ruining the lives of those following their accounts. And that everyone should unfollow bloggers. Oh, and did I mention that this account is associated with a blog? Ironic.
My thoughts have been all over the world when it comes to this topic. It’s hard to form complete sentences because there are SO many layers to this issue. So instead I’ve decided to break it out between thoughts.
My first thought: we should not call people or adventures “goals.” I never want to be or my life to be a “goal” for someone. That’s not the purpose of my blog or this space. The moment we start saying that other people are goals, we put ourselves in a dangerous position. We are allowing and opening ourselves up to envy. I personally know, that envy has never lead to anything positive in my life.
Second thought: Do you ever think it’s hard for bloggers and influencers to be completely transparent with their followers? I can personally say that 99.5% of my followers are sweet and amazing people, but that other 00.5% are not. The comments, messages and emails I’ve received that are full of hate or pure creepiness would put anyone on edge. When I started blogging, something weird happened when I passed 3k followers on IG. I started receiving emails and IG messages that would make you cringe. These messages were always from what appeared to be a man in his 50’s and they were immediately blocked. This was a wake up call to me, everything I was posting was accessible to anyone and everyone. I had always been aware of this, but until you feel uncomfortable or unsafe it doesn’t seem like anything bad will happen. I was too focused on growing my brand to realize the safety precautions I should have been taking.
Third thought: I’ve received messages, I’ve blocked people and my life goes on. But I’ve seen other bloggers post emails, DMs and comments that are purely hate filled. There is a strange thing that happens when an account reaches over 5k followers. It is like we no longer become “real” people in some followers eyes. That we won’t see the hateful comments or they won’t be read. Well, we are real, we read all the comments and you shouldn’t have to build up steel skin just because you want to blog. Stop expecting bloggers to be completely real with you, when you’re so quick to send hateful messages to them. Think of it this way, your boss told you to share your ideas for an upcoming project, they wanted you to share every and any idea. So that’s what you did, you were excited and shared an idea you really believed would take business to the next level. Then that same boss turned around and sent you an email telling you how dumb of an idea that was. How they couldn’t believe you would ever send them something like that. So you took a step back and tried again. This time your boss takes it to the next level and says you were fired because of your idea.
Rough right? See that’s kind of what it’s like when us bloggers try to be authentic and real with our followers. We either receive comments and DMs saying that our voices are annoying, we’re dumb, and that people can’t believe we’re showing our blemish faces. But these are also the same people saying that bloggers are not authentic or real. Annoying right? It’s an endless cycle that we will never win. Some people will just not be happy until they try their best to hurt another person.
Final thought: Social media is just that, a place where people come to socially look at media. Personally, I use Instagram for my blog and as a creative outlet. Is it easy to get caught in the comparison game? ABSOLUTELY. But that doesn’t mean that I suddenly hate that person or my life. It sure as heck doesn’t mean I will bully or send them crude comments. All it means is that I need to check myself and carry on. Trust me, I know more than anyone how staged Instagram feeds are. Creating an attractive social media feed is my job. And yet, I still let myself get caught up in someone else’s images.
If social media, specifically Instagram is causing you to dislike someone, this is a heart issue. This is not the blogger or influencers fault. They are doing their job, they’re build their brand and they’re working their butts off to be successful.
Give us bloggers a break, we’re only human.
XOXO