By Dray Breezy
Oct 28, 2020
Managing Social media as a Freelancer
Social Media is an invaluable tool when first starting as a freelance writer. Twitter, Linked In, Facebook, Instagram and Reddit all provide an infinite amount of networking opportunities and connections that can help grow your freelance venture. However, as I get deeper plugged-in, I also realize that social media can often inhibit my creative aspirations and cause an unsettling amount of doubt in my craft.
Don’t dim your light because it shines in their eyes
Social Media has a bunch of haters. I dislike being a reductionist, but social media has a sizable majority of people that only seek to criticize and tear down. Unfortunately, they always seem to be the first to comment as well. Reddit is the worse by far but Facebook is a close second. For instance, today I had written a post about a client that exhibited poor (abusive) patterns of communication towards me. Throughout the post there were men (it’s always men defending abusive behavior) telling me to “suck it up” and “be grateful”, which eventually turned into various criticisms of how long it takes my website to load. None of these comments were constructive and they honestly just pissed me off. Realize in any group, the other writers, in many ways, are your competition. Some in those groups take that more literally than others and so they want to get in your head and make you doubt yourself and… quit. I guess they suppose that’s more jobs for them. Don’t let them play you, keep writing, keep going.
Opinions are like A**holes…
Social Media feeds the narrative that every individual is important, that their opinions are important. While I believe that everyone has something of value to add to society, I also believe that unsolicited advice is often rude and obnoxious and makes one look like a boor. Great writing is art, vulnerable and honest, and criticizing someone’s art is inherently personal. While criticism is important and humbling, I often find people online just don’t have any manners or grace. Wording is of the utmost importance and constructive criticism follows a certain format. “I don’t like XYZ, here is a way to improve that.” If your comment contains the first part of that clause, but doesn’t contain the latter, you are not helping, you are hating and please for the love of God learn the difference. Learning how to effectively criticize is a part of learning how to communicate in a healthy way and will advance your communication skills in EVERY aspect of your life.
Stay on Topic
Reading is fundamental. If a person is asking advice on a certain topic, only provide advice on that certain topic. If I post a question asking which oil should I use for an oil change, and you respond with a criticism about the windshield wipers I’m using, you’re not helping, you’re only distracting me from fixing the problem at hand.
Social Media is full of these types. Busy-body know-it-all that gain some sadistic pleasure from tearing apart other people’s art, ideas, feelings, and lives. It takes strength to confront these people, but it’s worth it. Sometimes those people will outnumber you, still stand up for yourself and your work. Make people defend their criticisms. Defend your work and be proud of it. If you don’t, who else will?