Likes feel good, follows and comments too, Nothing wrong with that, until it becomes all that we pursue.
It can affect our value,
but is it true?
There is nothing to do,
just be you.
As a teen, I wanted to be famous when I grew up. A lot of us probably did, it was the thing to aspire to, especially with all the big TV talent shows of the time like Pop Idol and beyond, which promised to make ‘ordinary folk’ famous. It has taken me a while to dissolve the heavy conditioning I have towards celebrity culture and I am still shaking it off now.
But being famous is something many of us still aspire to, except now it’s different… Being YouTube or Instagram famous, rather than on the TV has become much more accessible and is a big business if you are an ‘influencer’…
Being a social media influencer is a career path in our digital age, with many looking to build big social media followings, hits and clicks to blogs and YouTube channels, in order to make money from brands and businesses who want to advertise and market their products to their burgeoning audiences. It is a booming industry but is it a good one?
And has it already gotten out of control?
It plays very much to our social media ego, focusing on follower numbers and celebrity status. It has the power to place the ego in control and to let it get out of control. It’s often about beauty, status, power, wealth and appearing to ‘have it all’. I’ve heard stories of fashion influencers who are now more powerful than the fashion houses, designers or models themselves, charging vast amounts of money and having a long list of demands to feature products and people in their social media feeds.
When thinking about being or becoming an influencer, what comes to your mind?
How can we be influencers with our social media soul rather than our social media ego?
What is a Social Media Influencer for a New Age?
For me it would be someone using their platform to help people, using their influence to effect positive change for their community, as well as for the masses and being rewarded for that in many different ways; financially, emotionally and spiritually.
Less exclusivity and more accessibility, also means that many of us who are present on social media are getting a taste of ‘fame’ ourselves. I have met people that I have only known online and felt a little star struck. I know people have done the same with me and even more so with my clients and friends who have big social media followings.
Just this week I was walking down Glastonbury High Street when I saw someone do a double take, come up to me and say “Hi!! Katie??! It’s Margaret-Anne – from Instagram!”
Which is both awesome and weird all at the same time.
Wanting to become social media famous in this day and age is as natural for us now, as wanting to be TV famous was when I was a teenager.
“Neuroscience and attachment theory offer an explanation of what we are looking for: according to recent research, normal human development requires that we feel recognised and seen by others.”
– Psychology Today
But because of this when we get on social media, there is a tendency for us to act differently because of our need for recognition. I also think that when we see ourselves on a screen, in the same way that we used to see people through the lens of the TV or movies screen, it activates this part of us.
Our ego is having a FREAKIN’ field day when it comes to social media. Social Media for a New Age is in part about recognising when our social media ego is getting out of control and how to shift it into a better balance and connect with our social media soul.
My social media ego – wants big follower numbers, doesn’t even really care who the followers are; she wants to look and feel popular, successful, important and in control.
My social media soul, on the other hand, really wants community, connection, engagement with like-minded people, to make friends she can get to know, meet clients she can support and serve with her knowledge and skills.
I would love you to acknowledge and say hi now to your social media ego and your social media soul, because they will both play a part in your social media journey. When we bear witness to both sides – it makes it so much easier to get back into balance when we are leaning too much into the ego.