a how-to guide for transcending the tech idiocracy
the revolution *will* be posted
Last week, I put words to the truth that most (if not all) social platforms are now being directed (if not overtly controlled) by forces and perspectives that we just don’t fucking believe in.
It’s not lost on me that this has probably always been true, but the implications of that truth have become much louder.
Or maybe we’re just finally listening.
I knew this post would spark dialogue from all angles, but the collective relief was most palpable. Thankyous on thankyous for saying what we’re all thinking:
“I hate what it means to be here but I think I need to stay.”
This isn’t another examination of the former, it’s an answer to the latter.
The staying.
The what-happens-now, once the decision is made — however temporary — to remain in the online arenas where the broligarchy reigns. Or at least, with the level of sassy optimism I prefer, tries to.
So what happens now?
At the top of January I had the privilege of contributing to one of my clients’ free resources — a year-long astrological calendar called “Arrival,” designed to make applying the energy of the astros in relationship to the seasons-at-large and our seasons of life more accessible. My contribution was a check-in practice for the folks who are also leading communities, while leading themselves.
All of us are, by the way.
Whether through your business, your family, or just the way you move through the world, we are all leading in some way. It’s easy to want to detach from that responsibility when the world feels crushing, but we are always taking steps forward which means we are always paving the way for someone taking the same ones we took, yesterday.
Approaching all things with an energy of leadership is especially significant, now, because it reminds us that we are constantly impacting change whether or not we are actively choosing to. For better and worse. You can’t get out of it. Sorry buuuutttt.
As a thank-you for my contribution, Jess sent me a voice-memo with a personalized astrological forecast and the contents of that memo sparked the idea for what you’re reading, right now.
I was sitting like a bendy little freak at my bistro table, crouched above my phone, knees contorted beneath me as they often are, headphones in, fingers poised at the keyboard to clack notes on her musings that I could journal on, later.
Fresh out of the Notion page, it looked like:
And that highlighted section was like, oh damn.
“Look at the mess, look at this shitshow, and here’s how we stand up in it — how we lead and lead the revolution, into it.”
I was struck because she had sent this memo to me before I had posted my Substack last week… but I hadn’t had the space to listen to it, ‘til after.
“Look at the mess, look at this shit show,” could have, probably, been an alternate title. A guidance in examining and beginning to form coherent thoughts on paths forward, but no roadmap, not yet.
How do we stand up? How do we lead the revolution, into it?
These questions have rung in my ears all week.
Today, I’ll attempt to answer them.
My predictions for the social media landscape moving forward, the role you get to play in it, and what the counter-MakeSocialMediaGreatAgain-movement looks like, from here.
↓
001 / TAKE A FULL-SPECTRUM APPROACH
“Diversifying your marketing” is a basic bitch, now.
Rather than vying for visibility on the major platforms, this is the era of full-spectrum social media — prioritizing a presence in communities of different shapes, sizes, and purposes (and yeah, different CEOs), from the very public to the totally private.
A place to share art, a place to find information, a place to flex your expertise, a place to simply play. Rooms where you find clients and rooms where they become friends. Rooms where you stretch yourself, rooms where you’re soothed from the stretching.
We need to be engaging at both scales for our businesses to survive — amplification + intimacy, expansion + depth, discomfort + warmth.
Instead of a list of online to-dos that looks like:
→ Film TikTok talking head
→ Edit YouTube Vlog
→ Post Trial Reels
→ Write newsletter
It’s time to mix “post thoughts in Romantasy Book Club,” right in there with ‘em.
002 / PRIORITIZE UNEDITED CREATION
The fear of being misunderstood is so rampant in the creative entrepreneur space, and it was a demon I had to fight, too. If you’re sitting in it, I very much get it, but I also need to refer you to this post, which says it all.
“If you’re not willing to be misunderstood, you’re not ready to lead.”
Yes, that part.
But I think you’re here because you ARE ready.
I think you’re here because you actually have a lot of shit to say.
I think what’s been holding you back isn’t the idea of realllllly showing up, but actually the polish that most platforms have forced upon you — the idea that we have to triple-check every caption for spelling mistakes, button up every thought with a tangible call-to-action for it to be worth the engagement we’re crossing our fingers for, hide our humanness so that clients still want to give us money to help them with stuff.
Not anymore.
The social media “dos and don’ts” you’ve been hoarding in your saves folder are officially obsolete. It’s not about doing it right anymore — it’s about doing it real.
The landscape is lawless, so let’s lean the fuck in.
Within your full-spectrum strategy, as mentioned above, incorporate a medium that is entirely in process — a space where the point is to be unedited. Our podcast gave me grounds to start sharing in that way, and it completely shifted the relationship I have to showing up by giving myself explicit permission to not have it all figured out, there. To record something, be wrong, and show up the next week to right it. Mediums that document our evolution over the short term, spaces where we can share what we’re learning and thinking and feeling as we’re feeling them, not once we’ve made sense of them. Long-form writing is great for this (case-in-point), as is audio, and even, though I hate to admit it, TikTok serves this style of unfiltered quite well.
Give yourself an outlet where there are no rules at all, and then slowly warm up to the truth that, actually, that’s all of them. Embracing an attitude of intentional fuckery is the antidote to the algorithms that have kept you too quiet.
003 / START WITH RELEVANT ADVOCACY
I gave my little spiel (pissed that it isn’t spelled schpeal, wow) about how we’re all leaders in our own way, above, to prime you for this part:
Apolitical leadership doesn’t exist, anymore.
Every single person in your community, regardless of political affiliation, is being directly impacted by the weight of the world we live in. You can’t call yourself a leader if you’re sitting back and saying “let it be.”
Leadership is defined as standing up and saying, “let it be this way.”
And yes, some people are going to hate that.
The number of people unfollowing me since I started voicing my opinion on the current state of social media affairs is exactly the reason why we need to voice our opinions.
My Big Vision™️ is to launch a private platform by the end of the quarter — a space for creative business owners to have corrective experiences with social media, where there’s no risk of being ignored by the algorithm, no punishment for being misunderstood, just a constructive arena to workshop your post ideas and perspectives, say what you really want to fucking say with constructive feedback that gives you the tools to say it confidently on the public stage, too. God forbid that space be crawling with folks who think Mark is onto something with the whole “defund DEI” vibe. They are not invited.
BUT/AND, sharing political news or perspectives just for the sake of it isn’t helpful either, and speaking up on EVERY topic under the sun is going to help no one — especially if you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, and risk spreading misinformation just because you’re being reactionary.
So, reach for relevancy.
Think about the topics that connect directly with your community, your leadership themes, the things you’re already advocating for. Which beliefs and perspectives that you already share loudly mesh naturally with your political POVs? What do you + your people engage with daily that is being directly affected? For example, if you’re in the wellness space, sharing your take on the MAHA chaos would be a great place to start.
(I recently heard Kamie Crawford speak beautifully to this same concept here, if you want a deeper dive.)
004 / CREATE ALGORITHMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
I know that sounds kind of ???? but I’ll ground it with an example before we go too deep:
Last week, I went home to visit several of my oldest friends. I live in a different country on the opposite coast, so most of them I see once a year, if we’re lucky. I always notice that right around the time I go home, I’ve lost touch with most of them. The FaceTimes are less frequent, the random texts further between, and our primary method of reminding one another that we still care is through wordless meme sharing. Right after the visit, though, it’s the opposite. I’ve connected with them all more this week than I had in months, prior.
This is the Algorithm of Consciousness: connection created not because a robot reminded me they existed, but because they’re genuinely front-of-mind.
The actual literal algorithm has always been unreliable, but now it has the potential to be outright sinister. Rather than waiting for the robots to remind people you exist, put yourself into the algorithm of their consciousness, instead. Keep a running list of collaborators, clients, peers, any folks in your space that you want to stay in touch with. Put a recurring catch-up call on the schedule with a peer. Scroll your clients’ feed every Monday. Send a thoughtful DM to a collaborator not because you want something but just because you want to see what’s up.
The algorithm has made us so goddamn lazy about nurturing our network, which makes us reliant — and resentful — toward something we can’t control. Fuck it!
So, in summary —
If you’ve chosen to stay on the Meta platforms, keep truckin’ on TikTok, and keep participating in the digital economy in any capacity, there is only one path forward, from here:
Leadership.
The real kind.
Not the false authority that a certain follower-count suggests, but the skills that build cultures of trust, influence meaningful change, and transcend the idiocracy of the tech space entirely.
If you’re showing up online, you’re a leader.
Now it’s time to lead.
𐄂𐄂
IMAGE LINKS:
Body
Angela Quote
Butterfly
Dalmatian
Headline
Despair
Connection
Hang in There
Strawberries
Shell
Fear
ICYMI:
It’s not about doing what’s right anymore, it’s about doing what’s real! Full chills!
I’m so inspired by you leading and sharing these conversations.
For the longest time, I was so scared of saying anything remotely polarizing on the internet because I've always thought I had this persona of being the nice girl?... But honestly, polarization is what makes people leaders so... Here's to more spicy content this year 😌