I’ve been going viral. Well, I haven’t been, but one of my posts on Tiktok hit the FYP in a big way (2.3M views and counting!) and is now gaining lots of traction on Instagram as well.
And people are weird.
We know this. It’s the internet. People have been being weird on the internet for as long as there has been internet.
It’s a 9 second post about my favorite bit of home decor. It’s a self-aware nod at my previous (and now rather quaint) brush with virality. And it has been stressful. But also great! I’ve gained a lot of fabulous new followers that I hope stick around when I have very exciting things to post about hopefully very soon. (OMG I can’t wait til I can stop being vague, but today is not that day)
But here are a few thoughts. Take em, leave em, steal em, use em to start some fires in your own brains, if you so choose.
Everything I share on social media becomes an advertisement, whether I want it to or not. That doesn’t mean I have to treat it like one.
Blocking, deleting, filtering, and keeping my own peace is caring for myself.
There are ways to keep social media fun for myself, I just have to remember my priorities for each platform. (Yes, I have a little brand guide for myself, especially for Tiktok. There are too many discourses I could easily get dragged into if I didn’t remind myself of the ways I actually want to engage.)
Ability is not obligation.
People can (and should) google shit when they want to learn more.
Social media can elicit really strong emotional responses from me, and does. I need to keep adjusting my own boundaries accordingly.
You can’t have playlists on Tiktok til you hit 10k. Do I need playlists? No. Do I want them? Absolutely. It’s okay for me to want to hit an arbitrary number for (relatively) arbitrary reasons. (I’m currently at just over 8k which is by FAR the most followers I’ve ever had on a social media platform.
And one final thought. I had a moment I was quite proud of this past week and wanted to share it. It was a small moment, but profound for me. I posted a quick post on Christmas day about my two year fiction writing anniversary. Partly to feed the algorithm. Partly to celebrate how far I’ve come in two years. (Absolutely classic manifetor vibes, but that’s a woo-woo wondering for another day).
On the post, someone commented and asked for advice on how to get to where I am. And I almost gave it. I almost started posting about my querying journey, about agents, about traditional publishing vs self publishing. But I stopped and took a breath. I want my Tiktok account to be about witchy approaches to creativity. That is the type of content that brings me joy. Yes, I’m an author (with some incredibly exciting news I’ll hopefully be able to share soooooon), but I am not particularly interested in giving querying advice. At least not to strangers.
My querying journey was a-typical. Sure, all journeys are our own, and you can never replicate anyone else’s path, but I haven’t truly decided how I want to talk about my journey more broadly to the internet AT LARGE. So instead of offering advice, I pointed the questioner to three accounts of acquaintances who are posting about those things! Who are giving incredible advice that I trust and endorse.
And it was a small moment. One comment. But holding my own boundaries about what I do and don’t want to share felt monumental in that moment.
That’s all. More soon. Hopefully.
Wishing you all a magical start to a new year.
Trust your magic!
Clare
Also, thank you for using the word soupçon. It makes me happy.
Hi I love you and even though I never watch videos with sound (especially at work, which is definitely *not* where I'm typing this from at the moment...), I can hear your voice in my head in the two year post and oh goodness I love you.