Almost every session of me scrolling through Facebook ends with some sort of negative experience. Sure, politics are a big part of that, even when comedians are the ones joking about it. (I mean, I guess you can either laugh or cry, maybe both.) However, what really bothers me is the need for people to rip on others for their appearance, and let’s face it, it’s usually men ripping on women. It’s disgusting and sad. Most often, it’s not true. These men are just trying to say something they think is funny and criticizing someone’s appearance is one of the easiest ways to do that.
Sometimes, it makes me wonder if I should harness the child I was in middle school. That kid put everyone down. He made adults cry. As he got older, he learned how to insult people in such a way that he didn’t need profanity. A subtle barb would fester in the room waiting for the wounded person to realize what had just happened, leaving others in stitches. Release that kid on the Internet, and man, Facebook would be responsible for a lot more emotional issues than it has already caused (sometimes on purpose). But that attitude and those words were a part of growing up Gen X. You had to be tough on the street, and if you weren’t big, you better make sure your words were cutting enough to earn the respect of the bullies. Sticks and stones could break your bones, but words would leave you crushed, despite the saying to the contrary.
At some point, my freshman year of college, I decided I didn’t want to be that person anymore. I had just verbally destroyed someone at lunch. Everyone was laughing, but I didn’t feel good about it. I didn’t want to hurt people anymore. It didn’t seem right.
Yet, now it seems that Facebook is full of those type of people – trolls trying to cause anguish to garner views and likes. Someone might even say, “it takes a troll to hunt a troll,” and part of me thinks I could do some good by doing some bad.
But I look at the other Gen Xers that are posting about their childhoods and what they loved about growing up Gen X. They all say pretty much the same things: in before the streetlights come on, forced to be outside during the day, drinking from the garden hose… rarely do they mention the war of words that was a part of childhood then. Sure, they’ll talk about “You’re mama,” but that’s as far as they go. When confronted with a troll, they don’t call on their inner 12 year old and load that troll down with harsh words. Instead, they’re reliving their fondest memories. They’re reliving the best parts of a life that is so far gone, and they’re reliving parts of that life they didn’t get to live when it was happening.
And then there are the people who are trying to make Facebook better: a song, “It’s to be kind,” the aforementioned Gen Xers, the folks at Mr. Rogers, Levar Burton… These are the people that are trying to create a healthier social media ecosystem, and there are hundreds more.
So, let’s try to aspire to their level of kindness, joy and wonder, and not sink to place of trolls. It may not be easy to be kind, it may not garner as many views or comments, but it’s better for you.
Author’s Note: I have not included any links to Facebook because it’s probably better for us to not be on it. However, as long as it’s the easiest platform to use to reach my friends, family and new readers, I’m still going to be posting. Please like, comment, and share. Also, feel free to leave a comment on my blog post, maybe we can build a better social media without the trolls…
Beat the social media algorithm Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
To paraphrase Gandhi, “Be the Feed You Want to See in the World.” One of the things that I dislike about recipes and “help” articles on the Internet is that they require you to wade through a bunch of extraneous stuff to get to the information you want. There’s always a story, complete with large photos, that requires you to scroll for five minutes before you ever get to the solution. That’s why I paraphrased Gandhi and put the easiest solution to beat social media algorithms first. Now, if you know how to do that, you don’t have to read any further. However, it would be nice if you did continue because that’s how the algorithm works. The longer you stay on this page and the more you click on the links on my website, the higher the ranking my page and website will achieve.
Computer Algorithms
Algorithms have no decision-making capabilities. It is important to know this because it means that the algorithm can’t decide if you want to see content. It can only compute the amount of time you spend interacting with a topic and, based on its program, the type of interaction you focus on. Algorithms will also look at the key words you are using. Whatever you interact with, no matter the type of interaction, is what you will see. If posts that make you angry cause you to react on social media, those are the posts you are going to see. Algorithms may also look at what your friends and who you are following are interacting with, which means you can’t control everything you see on your feed because some of your (social media) friends are likely going to interact with stuff you don’t like.
Your Posts
The easiest things to control in your feed are your own posts. Post the type of content you want to see. If you’re posting your political views, chances are you’re not only going to the views that align with yours, but you’re also going to see the views that are directly in conflict with yours. Anger is a powerful motivator, and if Trump or Biden get you to like, comment, block, stop scrolling, repost, subscribe or other interaction, you’re going to get more of them on your feed – both good and bad (from your point of view).
If you’re reposting something, make sure it’s something you want to see more of. Keep your personal feed free of the stuff you dislike, that makes you angry, or that could incite others, and you’ll be on your way to a happier, more engaging feed.
Seek Out Friends
You’ve seen the post:
Facebook is blocking me from seeing my friends posts and showing me ads instead. Like and comment on this post, so I can see more from my friends.
Your friends interacting with your post will allow them to see more of what you are posting. You need to interact with your friends’ posts. Social media’s first priority is to keep you on the page. Interacting with your friends with a long comment that sparks a conversation will compute to the algorithm and cause it to show you more of that type of content. If you want to see more posts from your friends, it’s up to you to make that contact, like, long comment, and share (repost) their posts.
Post What’s Verifiable and True
A lot of people will post or repost something that they want to be true. Cough CPR doesn’t work, but the post makes its rounds because “if I’m alone and having a heart attack, I’m going to do what it takes even if it doesn’t work.” Flat earthers abound; conspiracy theorists, like scum, rise to the top. Some people just want to believe the lie: If you repost this the lucky penny, the four-leaf clover, screaming goat, Jesus will grant your wish. It’s the modern version of a chain letter. No matter how much you want it to be true, do not post it until you have verified it as a fact. If your opinion is not true, it is a lie.
That doesn’t mean you can’t post your opinion. (And obviously, you can post whatever you want because freedumb.) However, “aliens built the pyramids” isn’t an opinion; it’s a conspiracy theory. “This cupcake tastes amazing” is an opinion. “Who is the worst president ever” is an opinion-based question. An opinion is something that ascribes value to a subjective experience. Facts are not objective. The best way to look at it is if you don’t want to see the opposite of what you are posting, then don’t post it. For example, if you really dislike people who think that chocolate is the best flavor when you think vanilla is, don’t post your opinion on vanilla.
It’s important to remember that posting your opinion, even when based on facts, will not change anyone’s mind on social media. You won’t have the perfect comeback, the perfect link, or the perfect rapport with someone to help them see the truth or the light. Responding to a post where you have the undeniable truth on your side – i.e., the Earth is round – will only cause your feed to become inundated with people who disagree with you and no amount of evidence will convince them otherwise.
The Chaos Bullies
This is probably too cool a name for those people that enjoy poking the bear. There is a significant portion of the population that gets their jollies from poking the bear. They don’t care if what they post is true. They don’t care that their comments hurt you or the people you love. Their only pleasure in life is making others angry. If they can get a rise out of you, they will feel better about themselves. They will have gotten the attention they crave, and they will have learned how to control you. Their like toddlers who learn to control mommy and daddy by making a scene in public, throwing a tantrum in the market, shouting out “you’re not my parent” and asserting that they will call the police and claim abuse.
The best way to deal with bullies is to ignore them. By not interacting with them, you take away their power. If a bully is persistent, you can and should block them. Just remember that the algorithm is going to pick that up and file it away as an interaction. You may have to block quite a few people and bots depending on the comment. If the bully is not a social media friend, you can change your settings to post only to friends, and avoid the possibility of unwanted attention. (I posted about a person’s car being stolen, found and impounded. It was going to cost $500 to get the car out of impound. I had 60 almost identical comments about how to use an Instagram tracker to get the car back. All of the comments referred to one of two Instagram pages. I tried blocking them, but they just kept coming. I switched the post to Facebook friends, and that cleared up the problem.)
Facebook Manipulates Feelings
In 2012, Facebook manipulated the feelings of over 700,000 users subjected to the social media platform’s science experiment. They found that those who saw more positive and uplifting posts posted more uplifting words by the end of a week. Those who saw sad posts posted sadder updates by the end of the week. We know that Facebook has done at least one experiment to control people’s feelings. We don’t know what they have done with that information.
Follow the Right People
John Schneider was posting a series of amazing, heartfelt tributes to his wife who died a year ago. He talked about compassion, lifting others up, and explained how we’re all fellow travelers. These were amazing sentiments about coming together in hard times. My heart went out to him, and I was uplifted by his ability to express his emotions. It was nice to have a childhood icon explain some of the very things I was feeling and could relate to.
Schneider is also a die-hard Trump supporter. Once his year of grief was over, he posted more of his alt-right rhetoric, disrespected the president, and shouted pain from his social media platform. How could he reconcile the two positions? More importantly, for me at least, is how could I reconcile the two positions – one of uniting and one of dividing? The last post I saw from him was one where a woman complained about his political stance. Rather than engage in a dialogue, where neither would be convinced by the other’s position, but where maybe they could come to an understanding, Schneider and company just kicked her out. Good riddance. Schneider doesn’t have to be nice to people. He doesn’t have to be consistent in his beliefs, and I don’t have to follow him. I don’t want to see political posts against the American judicial or political system. I don’t want to hear from people who only believe in democracy as long as it conforms to their vote and opinions. That’s my personal thing. If you love Trump, and seeing political posts makes you happy, follow John Schneider.
If you don’t want those kinds of things in your feed, do not follow people who are posting politics. If you do follow people posting about subjects you don’t want in your feed, you will engage and your feed will be inundated by those things you don’t want.
Your Friends’ Feeds
From time to time, maybe more often than you want, one of your friends is going to post something you don’t want to see in your feed. Social media will share these posts with you because you have interacted with your friends. Ignore the posts you don’t like. Don’t comment on the post, don’t angry emoticon the post. Ignore it, especially if it’s something they copied and pasted or it’s from another page. If it’s especially bothersome, block the page (not necessarily your friend). Just remember blocking is a form of interaction.
Beat the Social Media Algorithm
If you’ve made it this far, thank you. It won’t be easy to beat the social media algorithm and save your feed, but it will be worth it. By engaging more with your friends’ original posts that you truly enjoy and only posting what you would like to see more of, you will be able to find your happy place again. Avoid the angry emoticon, interact with what and whom you love, be healthier mentally. (And if you want more of this type of content like, share, follow, comment, subscribe and interact.)
If you’re like most people, you have a smart phone. It’s good for taking photos, getting directions, finding out who the winner of the 35th Kentucky Derby was (Wintergreen), and protecting you, at least in a legal sense, from a police beat down or a Karen verbal, and possibly physical, explosion. You may also get a viral video in either of those last two cases. However, your smart phone is also capable of controlling you in ways you haven’t thought possible. Those who worry about being chipped through a vaccine have failed to realized that they have much more effectively chipped themselves through their Internet and smart phone usage. You need to control the Internet and take back your personal autonomy from the what you think to what you do to who you do it with.
If you haven’t realized it by now, social media companies are not a product. They are not beholden to their users for any reason other than that they need users to be the product. Social media then sells its data and insights to the highest advertising budget to get the most targeted results. While making you the product has been vilified in some arenas, it’s not any worse than you as the product for TV or radio. The biggest difference is that Facebook, Twitter, and their ilk can target you specifically, have done experiments to show they can manipulate your feelings, and are in it for a profit, not of millions of dollars, but hundreds of millions.
The purpose of online marketing is to drive people to your website to buy something. While the Internet is constantly changing as are the way search engines evaluate websites and their relevance to queries, one thing appears to remain true throughout the changes. In order for your online marketing to work, you need to provide meaningful content at your website.
I’m not any good at building a virtual community. I’m not sure why. My Twitter account hovers around 230 followers, usually fewer. My YouTube page is at about 250 subscribers. My Patreon has five dedicated and amazing Penguinators (Thank you!). The only reason I have over 1,000 Facebook friends is because I played a game called Castle Age for four years and I needed friends to get prizes (DfA!).
However, a virtual community is what I need to build to
survive as a writer. I need a group of individuals who will interact with my
webpage and social media. People who will share penguin posts and buy books and
penguins. A core group of active fans, who can help get the word out and keep
my TV series on the air for another season (figuratively speaking), would be
amazing.
Taylor Swift has her Swifties. Haley Reinhart has her Haliens. Firefly has its Browncoats. Justin Bieber has his Beliebers. What’s the name of J.K. Rowling’s fans? These fans are there to support and protect their chosen artists, and just such a fan base is what every creator needs.
I’ve seen examples of fan-building, but I don’t know how to
use my personality to do it. All I know is that I need to figure it out and
quickly. Change is coming, and when it does, I’m going to need a lot of support
and a lot of change.
I’ve been struggling with this idea of an email list for
several reasons. It’s a lot of extra work. It’s an extra expense. I don’t
really like the email lists I’ve joined, and I was hoping that people would
migrate over to my Patreon where we can make beautiful words and penguins
together. (You can still migrate to Patreon and get cool things for as little
as a dollar a month.)
Extra Work
I already write at least one post a day for my blog; I
surpassed 200 days of posting in a row on July 12, 2019. I plan on keeping that
streak alive, but it isn’t easy to come up with something new every day. I try
to write 3 posts a day for my SEO job when they have work available. I need to
write posts for my Patreon – one or two a month. I edit books as a side job.
Adding one more thing to my list of things to do, which
includes marketing, continued learning, reading, refilling the creative well,
dishes, laundry and other housework, taxes, teaching English, searching for
freelance jobs to supplement my income, keeping my social media accounts active
and relevant, and spending time with my wife and family, is a little
overwhelming, especially when I really have no idea what I’m doing. How can I
keep an email list current and active while still finding time to write my next
book?
Extra Expense
MailChimp offers free limited use email lists. If I get more
than 2,000 subscribers or I want to do something cool like set up a series of
future emails, I’m going to have to pay up for that. This extra expense may end
up being worth it, but right now, it’s hard to justify. Automation would be
great for an introduction to Penguinate.com and its creativity, books and
penguins. For now, I have to live with what there is – the opportunity to
follow up with an immediate discount email, a day later intro email, and an
email on the first of the month that rounds up everything I posted on my blog.
Then, I’ll hope people don’t forget who I was when the next email I send is
more than a month away.
Other Email Lists
Russell Nohelty and some other people do these great list
building contests. For a small fee, authors join the list builder. The money is
pooled to come up with a prize package that people will really want based on a fandom,
like Doctor Who, Firefly, or Marvel. I’ve signed up for a couple of these and
ended up on email lists that were not what I was expecting. (Who knew Buffy the
Vampire Slayer was related to the reverse harem genre of books?) Aside from
that, I received 20 to 40 different emails or more during a two-day period
after the sign up and those emails keep coming until I unsubscribe. They aren’t
just from the authors, they’re from Amazon, Kickstarter, GoodReads, and other
websites the authors had people sign up at to get more entries. (I did not win
the Buffy swag, by the way.)
All the emails end up being the same. Hi, I’m author, here’s
what I’ve been working on, here’s a free (short story, book), here’s a contest
you haven’t entered, here are some other free books… I don’t want to inundate
your email inbox with emails you aren’t going to read, and I haven’t figured
out how to make an email that is any different. Why would I want to make an
email list where people will get the same thing (minus the freebies) that other
authors are already sending out? Do you really want pictures of my cat? (If so,
I’ll send them, but she doesn’t like being photographed.)
On Patreon
I was really hoping to build my Patreon into a juggernaut.
If I could get 600 people signed up at a dollar each, my financial situation would
be much more stable. It wouldn’t give me the opportunity to quite everything,
but it would reduce the amount of freelance and SEO work I had to do.
Unfortunately, I still haven’t got a handle on how best to get fans to sign up
for the Patreon. I’ve offered discounts at any level. I’ve created offers, like
join at $30 for three months and get a penguin. I’ve posted about it on
Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. I haven’t figured out how to grow any of my
social networks beyond a certain number and Patreon is the same right now.
Why Am I Doing It?
I am starting an email list because it’s the best way to
keep you in the loop about what Jenya and I are doing creatively. YouTube changed
its criteria for creators to monetize videos. Facebook changed its algorithm,
so that creators had to pay to get their fans to see what’s being posted on the
fan page; it has also randomly marked my penguin8.com as spam without giving me
a reason or checking the posts that I sent notices about. Weebly eliminated
access to its website for anyone geographically listed in Russia and other
countries. These changes have made it more difficult for creators to make a
living off of random and organic growth. They have also shown that these
companies control my eCommerce to a degree that is not only uncomfortable and
unprofitable but also dangerously close to being able to remove my presence
from my largest outlets with a small change in their algorithms. I can’t count
on social media and search engines to drive organic views to my websites.
In addition to this, my SEO job ebbs and flows. There have been days when there just aren’t any articles to write. I need to find a better way to make money, and every other book and website I’ve read about being a creator in the Internet age says an email is the only way to go. When a website like examiner.com or MySpace shuts down or becomes less visited, the email list is still there to sustain the creator. In theory, I’m in control of the email list, and thus in control of my destiny. And isn’t that all anyone really wants? To control his or her direction?
So, please sign up for our email list. Like share, comment on our social media posts and sign up for our Patreon. I look forward to you becoming honorary Penguinators.
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In creativity, the more ideas you
have, the more likely you are to find a great idea. When people come together
to share, they can combine ideas and build off each other. In these cases, it’s
better for the people involved to check their egos and their need for credit at
the door. If someone can come up with a world-changing idea because people were
open to sharing and participating in give and take, that should be what
matters. While the creative community knows this, it also knows that the person
or company who implements the idea gets the credit and the rewards. It’s a
stumbling block that comes with capitalism where the almighty dollar rules all.
Facebook went through this with the
lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg for stealing the idea from the Winklevoss twins
who recruited him to work on ConnectU. Zuckerberg is a billionaire, but he
cared about who got the credit.
In “How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery,” author Ken Ashton tells the story of vanilla and a slave boy named Edmond. Europeans loved vanilla, but it only grew in Mexico. Plants were taken to other countries, but they didn’t produce any vanilla beans. The world’s supply of vanilla was limited to the two tons of beans produced in Mexico and pollinated by a specific bee there.
It wasn’t until Edmond (who didn’t have a last name because he was a 12-year-old slave) pollinated a vanilla orchid, adapting a technique he had learned from pollinating watermelon vines, that the vanilla industry was able to grow beyond Mexico. Edmond was freed about 6 months before the rest of the slaves in Reunion and given the last name “Albius.” He went to the city, was jailed, his former owner was able to free him in three years, but Edmond came to a “destitute and miserable end” according to his obituary. Edmond is remembered through the name of his pollination technique called “le geste d’Edmond” (“Edmond’s Gesture” in English) and a statue that stands on the island where he created the technique. In 2018, according to “Time,” vanilla ($515) was worth almost as much as silver ($527) per kilogram.
While Edmond didn’t get the recognition he deserved in his lifetime, it was due to his status as a slave and African and not because his owner tried to take credit. In fact, his owner insisted on telling everyone the debt that the nation owed to Edmond for his discovery. He corrected false stories and did his best to improve Edmond’s standing in life. Twelve-year-old Edmond probably never thought about getting the credit for his discovery.
However, in today’s climate, discovery,
innovation and creativity take a backseat to quarterly profits and the need for
fame and recognition. We may be capable of achieving great things, but we need
to figure out how to justly compensate everyone involved. Unfortunately, greed,
intellectual property theft and laws geared toward improving the lot of corporations
make it increasingly difficult to justify being creative for the sake of humankind.
Every so often, I get caught up in one of those point-and-click
Facebook games, like Farmville or Castle Age, and I become totally obsessed
with them. I’m building characters. I’m building farms. I’m building castles. I’m
fighting monsters. I’m raking in the fake currency. I’m completing quests, and
in the best of these, I’m connecting with people on the Internet I will
probably never meet in person. In short, these games allow me the opportunity
to feel successful and enjoy the feeling of actually building toward something.
It’s a feeling that seriously lacks in real life.
No matter how many blog posts I write, how many books I
sell, or how many SEO articles I write, I don’t see the results that show I am
building toward something. Instead, my real life looks like I am spinning my
wheels and staying afloat, with the weather and waves threatening to change all
that.
These games have a time element and a rewards system. Just
wait five minutes, and you get another point, or energy bolt, or gold piece to
spend. Of course, you always have the option of throwing the developers some
real money to get more of whatever makes the game go. The more you play, the
more new lands you find the more powers you develop and the more secrets you
discover.
Discovery also lacks in life, even as I seek out new
experiences and new information. It seems like I am surrounded by old
information that is told in different ways over and over. It’s like looking up
30 articles on heart attacks to see that chest pain is the most common symptom
for men. It’s something we all know. Isn’t there anything new out there?
Recently, I got caught up in “Magic the Gathering: Arena.”
It’s a great game. You collect cards and decks. You build decks, and then you
battle against other people that you can’t really communicate with. It has all
the elements I love: Discovery, strategy and card collecting. (I had so many Magic
cards when I was in my teens and twenties.) And then there’s the winning – who doesn’t
love winning? I just can’t continue on with it knowing the responsibilities I
have.
These games are time- and attention-stealers. They don’t do anything to advance you forward, and if you’re like me, they suck you in and reduce your effectiveness in other areas of your life. If you’re thinking about the next reward you can get in your match three gems game or Candy Crush, you’re not thinking about how to solve other problems you’re facing or how to help other people get through life better. Yes, they are fun, and if you can play them in moderation, more power to you. I, however, cannot. Now, if there were a point-and-click game that translated into helping people. That might be a game worth getting lost in.
Penguinate! Positive Creativity 