To all you people on Facebook with weird hangs up. I get it, we all have weird hang ups about a lot of things. I’ve got them too, but I try to overcome them when they affect other people, which is what we should all strive for.
In this instance, I am talking about people on Facebook with the strange habit of not liking too many things. There are a bunch of you out there, I know plenty of you that have explained their bizarre reasoning for limiting their “likes” output. They seem to think liking too many things dilutes their opinion, or makes them seem too frivolous with their praise. Some people think that sharing too much stuff means that their important things will get lost in the process, but honestly I don’t think that there is a real rhyme or reason to Facebook's algorithm, at least not one you are going to figure out to get your cat pictures to the top of the list. That is your warped ego talking. No one is tracking your “likes”, no one thinks your opinion carries more weight or you’re cooler or anything. No one cares.
Well, that’s not entirely true, Facebook tracks them and they care. Their advertisers care. Why should that matter? Well, there are a lot of creative people on Facebook, and they put stuff out there because they are trying to make a living, or get a career off the ground, or just get some traction for something they care about. Yes, I’m included in that group, so I’m speaking on behalf of myself and everyone else like me.
Self promotion is a huge part of an artist’s thing, and it is hard to do because it makes you feel like an idiot, and desperate or intrusive at times. We are all self-conscious and full of doubt, so it goes against everything all of us have been taught about blowing your own horn and being humble.
When you like or share something that someone worked hard on, all your friends see it too. That gives people a lot of exposure and could get them new fans, friends or followers. Likes, shares, followers, etc, is the new currency, and by clicking like or sharing, you are basically giving your friends a little more power, a little wider audience, a little more encouragement to continue doing something that that means a lot to them. Just once in awhile, that’s all it takes.
There are even other artists that don’t share each other’s work, or point their base towards their friends, and I think it’s just that people don’t think about or understand how this stuff works. No one is saying to fill your feed everyday with a thousand posts by the same person, just if you see something that someone put a piece of themselves into, reward it with a like, and maybe a share once or twice a year.
Now, There are people that will chime in about being needy, or narcissistic and all that, and while every single artist is definitely needy and has an ego to feed, that’s not what this is about. It is the reason most creative people feel self conscious about asking for others to share their stuff. You don’t have a problem when some celebrity asks you to share something, you all have your pet causes and petitions to sign that you share. It’s the same thing, you are sharing to get things noticed and help out people or a cause. I really don’t care what people think of me on this subject at this point, so whatever, I’ll take the bullet.
When you share a friend’s music or band posts, you might expose people to their music that end up buying a cd or attending a show.
When you share someone’s artwork, you expose it to people that might buy a print or a painting or pottery that is their main source of income, and maybe get them enough notice where they can use that traffic to get into a gallery or museum.
When you share someone’s post about their small business, whether they do graphic design, face painting, or have a store on Etsy, they basically run it themselves and always need any clients they can get. You are helping them survive and put food on their children’s plate.
When you share an author’s work, stories they write or books they are selling, or blogs or podcasts that they are trying to get traffic to, you are helping them get stats that they can point to at some point when they are trying to interest publishers or advertisers, as well as exposing their work to a wider audience.
On top of everything else, you are helping them by encouraging them and giving them a little indication that someone appreciates their effort, and that their passion is not in vain. I think I can speak for a lot of creative people when I say that there are times when you think you are whistling into the wind and you wonder what the point is. There are so many people that have their passion snuffed out because no seems to care at all.
When you think about all you can do for someone with one little click of your mouse, does it really seem like too much to ask? There is nothing but good that can come from liking or sharing or following a friend’s work. It literally is the least you can do.
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