THE EMPIRE
My friend Sylvia Gold, who when we had the babes section was featured a number of times, and on the old site too, wrote this wee novel via a status on her experiences with Social media through her career
Having been involved in the game for some time myself a lot of this hit home with regards to adoration over something that was to me just kinda part of what we did, not having big numbers be any kind of goal, more just having that platform that people enjoyed in order to share the creativity of whatever the thing might be, for Sylvia of course it’s modeling, for me it might be a video on a travel experience or a car review something like that.
One thing I have found, and thankfully not fallen into, is this world where everyones social media paints a picture far more impressive than what their real life is, which I understand to an extent, no one sees pictures of me sitting at my computer spending 5+ hours editing a vlog or even more time spent curating the website and monitoring all the social media pages and groups.
But the problem I feel comes when people see these great pictures in fancy places all dolled up with fancy cars or boats and assume that’s how some people live all the time, and try to emulate that in their real life, the truth be told so very few people acutally live like that and the people posting those images are doing it cause its a highlight, and I think that’s what some people fail to understand is those things are the highlight reels of peoples lives, that being said, Some people post a lot of what some might consider to be mundane on their instagram accounts, and that’s entirely up to them its their account and they choose what to share. I’m sure some of you have seen my rants about indfluencer marketing and how its change to be a two faced money grab by a select few, and again, that’s how they choose to live their lives. I see these social lies from that small community to be some of the most damaging but that’s a conversation for another time
I’ve seen a lot of people who do the same sort of things we do call out for feeling lonely, disconneted all sorts of things like that, maybe thats just how most people feel. Is social media to blame? in an age where we are conntected all the time for everything, it’s all becoming more and more digital and less real life connection, I even find myself making an effort to use social media less in my personal life as much as possible too, and that has actually been a really good thing for me, most everything i post now is on one of the work pages or is work related. humans being pack animals do need that connection. Recently ( in the last webisodes) I had one of the best weekends doing fuck all just hanging out with friends doing what we love and spending time together, and also doing something we love which is making cool contnet.
But here’s what Sylvia had to say about her experiences over the years..
Ok,
so last year I hit near 50k on my IG
I deleted it a month later
Do I regret it? yes and no
Here is why.
I started IG at the age of 20,
from the age of 12-20 there are no images of me, I hated myself
I decided I wanted to try see what other people saw when looking at me and wanted to let my inner artist out, so Instagram was born.
I started off as “cutest cupcake” , started Gramming my food, outfits, friends, I then started the alternative modelling that is suicidegirls.
After my first set went live, I started gaining more followers, along with that came a mix of emotions,
Firstly I started to love myself, by putting myself naked on the internet I bared not only my skin but my soul , I didn’t gain self love through seedy comments, but through realising that everyone sees beauty differently , and no matter what shape you are, you are art, you can express yourself freely and social media gave me that freedom.
sadly along with all of the support comes hate.
I gained a few stalkers who would make fake accounts and try cyber bully me,i assume it was a ‘friend’ as all of my family and friends were blocked , all due to the fact I found self love. I lost close friends, and I gained a reputation for being ‘that naked girl’ on social media
A year down the line, I did another set, started posting more on social media, voicing my opinion toward cyber bulling and trying to put myself in the lime light of ‘social media’ to connect with other people who felt the same, it worked, I had hit 30k.
At the 30k mark, I started gaining interest from photographers. , clothing companies etc etc , I also decided to start DJing, with this came my name change “Sylvia Gold” , which a friend gifted me. Big names like playboy mexico’ and ‘arsenic’ started following and interacting with me , I was finally achieving what I wanted.
Social media helped me gain gigs, free clothes, “friends” , but what it gave me was anxiety and relationship issues.
I hit 40k.
It was cool, people kinda weirdly gave you more respect, I was unsure how to feel , I’ve never been big on being the centre of attention, I dis liked telling people about my instagram as I didn’t want to seem big headed, so I wouldn’t really mention it.
I hit 45k
I started going out more, due to playing more gigs I was being more social, one night, a chick came up to me and said ‘I don’t like you cos my boyfriend follows your instagram’ , this comment on top of several other females in my town blocking me from their social media ( I had never met them) , really hit home, I felt like that because I had worked hard at building a status on ‘social media’ , the people around me hated me , even though I wasn’t on my high horse about it, as I saw it as just a number and a business path , the bitterness behind the eyes of people I did not know really upset me, I went through a break up, self doubt and an identity crisis, and deleted it at 50k.
Now, this is the short version, so much went on in between , I’m not saying I hated it all , in fact I’m starting all over with IG
But here is what I have to say about how social media has affected me
It made me a shit load stronger, it’s pushed me , it gave me the opportunity to grow as a human, to work with photographers and artist , it gave me a platform to reach from, I donated to charity’s with some money I made, I made friends all over the world. It has show me that people will hate you for no reason, I get messages from people who ask my advice on how to build their social media platforms on how to gain acceptance from trying to brand themselves ,
There is nothing wrong with social media, it’s all down to who’s behind it , you have to ignore the ones that don’t want you to succeed, I spent hours crying and questioning why did I want to grow a social media platform and gain a ‘name’ , because at the end of the day, you are your biggest investment , not in $$ but in self expression , self growth , and self love. Not everyone will understand why you use social media the way you do
Social media is agathokakological
So what’s the Crux? whats the underlying issues?
Are we as content creators, and I mean in the wider sense of everyone who puts anything online. Are we to blame for how the world is changing cause we’re part of it? or are we just part of a new system that has a major component of sharing our lives?
I think the issue is based with intent, Why are we sharing? have we created because we’re proud of our work? are we posting a family picture so the relatives overseas can see how the kids are doing? are we posting click bait shit to get iterations to be able to look at reach numbers to make our selves feel justified?
I think we have to first look inward and ask ourselves how its effecting us, and what is our true intent, I know for me I only ever starting using instagram as a platform for work, and Yeah i wanted to put up the best highlight reel I could, but not for ego, but to make what we were doing look as good as possible, and I suppose to an extent that’s still the case now, but now I take more stock in putting up something I feel is quality, and instead of hoping for a number to justify the post, I take appreciation from those that choose to click that like button or watch that video, or leave a comment. My goal is to entertain the community using the various platforms we do, be it humor or a vlog or whatever I just love making stuff, which I suppose might be a knock on effect or alternative to back in the days when I used to play music live in bands, I loved that I still remember the first time we played live a song I had written myself. It’s the best feeling when something you’ve created can give someone joy or make them think, or even just transport them into sharing your experiences for a short while.
But what does it mean to you?
Here’s a timelapse I shot on a Gopro Hero 4 black last weekend watching the sunrise with great people
As for my rant about the influencer marketing changes it’s here, and does somewhat need an update so i’ll get around to that
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