Illustration: Greenfield 2020 [email protected] Tricky thing, social media.
You try to tell yourself that it doesn’t mean as much as you think it means, but the anxiety quickly builds up when nobody in the world wide web seem to recognize your art. First of all, I do believe that as an artist, your priority should always be at your own professional improvement not grinding contents you think the social media wants. But in today’s age when social media plays not a small role in the art business management, it is impossible and frankly not advisable to ignore it completely. Nowadays, it is not uncommon for companies to ask for professional social media account such as LinkedIn or Instagram when hiring. For freelancers, social media could be where they can meet potential clients. But it is difficult to assess this game called the social media. People say that first, you must work on improving your art rather than whining about lack of followers. I think it is a sound advice. Interactions with random people online should not dictate the direction you, the artist, are taking. I also think that there is some base line of quality in art and account management to be achieved before you can find more followers. If you introduce yourself as an artist in your bio but seldom if ever post any art and what people see in your timeline is endless memes and retweets, your pool of followers may not grow as fast as you wish. I believe that artists in any stage of their journey put their effort in to art. Thus it is difficult to discuss the quality of art without risking dismissing their efforts. But I also think that social media leads even the seasoned artists to focus on posting works rather than making the works good whether it be for the instant gratification of likes or the sense of obligation. At the same time, the quality of art and management does not always lead to followers. How many times have you come across an artist and wondered “wow, how come this artist doesn’t have more followers?” And how many other times have you come across some other artist and wondered, despite feeling a little guilty for thinking so, “wow, how did this artist gain this many followers?” At the risk of sounding like a mean person, I admit that sometimes I have that moment. The person, who had several thousand followers, frankly wasn’t much of an artist and did not introduce themselves as so. Instead, the person posted a lot of political contents and memes. Whenever there was a social issue anywhere in the world, the person would make some funny, retweet-worthy comments and that seemed to win a lot of followers and naturally provided some traction for the person’s art as well. People like these are doing nothing wrong. They have a knack for entertainment, much like a reality TV star. They have built their own brand as not a mere artist but internet personalities. Their painting or drafting skills may be a little humble, but they have figured out the online ecosystem and established themselves with undeniable effort. Yet, as artists with less of such skills, you cannot help but feel a little cheated. Even though you recognize the efforts these people have put into, you feel like these people cheated the game. After all, you’re only human. Even though you tell yourself that the social media interactions don’t mean everything, not getting recognition for the art that you put effort into is disheartening, especially when somebody over there seems to get all the attention they can rake just because they made some witty meme art about Trump! Does lack of social media interactions mean that you lack talent or effort? Does that mean your art has no chance out there in the commercial world? For sake of comfort, I know many professionals who don’t do much social media or have modest following. The advice may be to keep working on your art and have your own improvement as the goal. But putting effort without getting recognition for a long time can be trying for any artist. Self doubts will grow and soon you’ll bee chest-deep in anxiety. Just ignoring the social media also cannot be an advice. My own advice as a “nobody artist” and an art educator is that you try to find friends with similar goal. Create your own artist circle where you can comfortably share art and give each other feedback. In that space, you’ll grow. Art is a language. More you speak it, better it will get. And when that self doubt and anxiety gets bad, remember, if a huge social media following was only your goal, you are better off posting cat photos ripped from the internet. You’re posting art because that’s where your interest lies, not a crowd of internet randos. I offer little apology for not sharing the social media secret. But then, had I knew the key to the game, I would be 10k+ followers and would be writing a bestselling book.
0 Comments
|