I won't go into my long — although generally inglorious — "career" as a web content creator. Suffice it to say, I have been part of various incarnations of this gig for close to 25 years.
I write stuff — and generally add my own pictures — because it is (in some odd way) my calling. It's something I really enjoy doing; it's something I can't imagine not doing. The Internet added a new social layer to one of my favorite activities: The ability to publish instantly, and receive pretty much instant feedback.
Whereas I am definitely "A Writer," first and foremost, I do really enjoy the social aspects of this particular medium. The notion of being able to exchange ideas and discussions with people all over the planet is just awesome!
Is it different from — for example — belonging to a local writer's group?
Well, yes it is, because you draw on a huge audience instead of just a local one... so — by extension — you stand a far greater chance of encountering people who are interested in the same (potentially very "niche" or esoteric) topics as you, whether you're into stamp collecting, raising a particular breed of cat, old postcards or whatever.
Politics and Non-Politics
Whereas I have never shied away from actual discussions about politics, I have generally avoided the politics of writing.
Phrased a little differently: I am more concerned about the creation of content and the response it inspires, than about the rules and internal politics of content creation.
That's a very old issue for me, dating back to having frequent "heated discussions" with my English teachers as early as age 13-14 about "proper grammar format" vs. "successfully conveying meaning and intent."
And please don't misunderstand that: I'm not saying that grammar and spelling don't matter — quite the contrary — I'm simply taking liberties with words and sentence structures and such.
But getting back to "politics," what I mean is that I steer a wide path around those who insist that "If you do THIS, then you can't do THAT."
It was something I first encountered in so-called "webrings," back in the late 1990's, where some ring managers would get all puffed up and insist that if you wanted your web site on their webring, you couldn't be a member of certain other webrings.
To use a super simple analogy, it's a bit like saying that if you like cats, you're not "allowed" to like dogs.
Freedom and Bullshit
In the context of "freedom of expression," and "freedom of choice," you can quickly run into bullshit territory.
Or maybe it's not actual bullshit, but situations where those of one perspective assert that you're free to do/say whatever you want... as long as that happens to be something that fits within their perception of reality do make me raise an eyebrow.
So what does this have to do with anything?
These days, we read and hear a lot about people getting banned/shadow banned, demonetized and various other things that amount to censorship, on venues like twitter, YouTube, Facebook and so on. Is that annoying, and unfortunate? For sure!
However, I am a content creator, and I put (and will continue to put) my content where it gets exposure, as long as it continues to get exposure, there.
For example, I may not like Facebook, but I have business/interest related "pages" there... and I keep using them for some of my content because when I post something relevant, 1000-1500 pairs of eyeballs look at that content.
I'll leave it up to someone else to "stand on their principles" and make "I hate Mark Zuckerberg!" declarations.
Why? Because I'm a Content Creator first, and I am going to maximize the exposure of that before I pay much attention to political grandstanding.
It's one of the reasons I never got much into Reddit: Too much ego-based territorial squabbling, not enough focus on the actual content shared.
Preferences and Fence Sitting
Some might argue that I am an eternal "fence sitter," but I disagree. I am just not using the same fence as them, to draw my lines.
My "fence" is mostly centered on whether or not any given location helps maximize the exposure for specific genres of content. When something is not worth my while, I stop giving it attention.
That doesn't mean that I don't have preferences. That's a whole different part of the equation.
I don't like Facebook, but it still has value to me. I much prefer Hive over Steem, but Steem still has value to me. I'm largely indifferent towards YouTube because I don't create video content.
People tend to forget that a large component of content creation is situational. If someone was concerned that their vlog might be censored, I'd suggest 3Speak. If someone is mostly looking for millions of eyeballs for their kitten videos, I'd suggest YouTube.
I prefer the extended Hive ecosystem, but that doesn't mean I'm going to abandon all other venues... and it definitely does not mean that I am walking around with secret desires to see all others FAIL.
But I certainly will continue to promote and recommend Hive!
Thanks for reading, and stay safe out there!
Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for this platform.)
Created at 20200514 13:46 PDT
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