Note: I had this scheduled to post this morning and then couldn’t sleep because I was worried about hurting someone’s feelings and unscheduled it. Upon rereading I don’t think it should and if it does, I’m sure it’s not about you so it’s fine. Even though I’ve removed my email address from my Instagram profile, I got two more collaboration requests this morning and I’m so tired of them so I guess I’ll post it.
I also know that I’m writing too much about being an influencer when I’m barely that anymore. This will be the last time I write about it. OK that’s it.
I’m back on social media now and am kind of just business as usual. I had hopes that I would come back more intentionally with some guardrails but instead I just dove right in. After a few days of binge-eating posts and farming likes like it’s the last day of summer in Stardew Valley, I think I need to figure out some guardrails. I’m going to keep thinking about it, but not in this post.
I want to talk about paid advocacy. I’ve seen a handful of creators who I respect participate in paid social media campaigns with non-profits and am not sure how to feel about it. I completely understand that there is a near infinite amount of money being poured into pro-development, pro-oil and gas, anti-conservationist content creation. Which is only the tip of the iceberg of the massive conservative media, including millions flowing to conservative social media creators from billionaires foreign and abroad. Obviously it’s working. Shouldn’t we (the royal we) also do that?
The argument that creators who speak for the trees, Lorax-style, should be able to pay their bills by countering that message is one I’m sympathetic to. It does, though, affect the way I interact with the content. When I get a whiff of paid partnerships, especially with non-profits who I don’t think are honest or informed, I tend to engage less or unfollow. Too often it feels like more is being lifted from the oppressor’s playbook than just paying creators. Intentionally whipping up anger about bills that have no hope of passing, straw-manning villains, and unrealistic slippery-slope narratives about what this or that policy really means are trying to use the master’s tools to dismantle the master’s house. All that leads to is more disillusionment and cynicism.
Up until recently, I wasn’t even sure anyone was getting paid for the collaborations, but I had started to suspect it. I know there is no shortage of people voluntarily taking up a cause and using their platforms to boost it, gratis. I’ve done this. But some of the messaging became way too samey, I saw the same collaborators showing up in tags on every post, and campaigns were sometimes either willfully misleading or embarrassingly uninformed. I’m not sure which I find more concerning. I started noticing references to weekly calls with talking points associated with groups that I am uncomfortable with due to a lack of financial or personnel transparency, then got this email:
I edited out some identifying information, but this did not come from a non-profit that I’ve heard of or could research on my own. Rather it came from an “influencer marketing agency.” Where does the money come from? Who knows! I hope they’re nice!
I turned it down. I’m glad I have that privilege. I’m lucky that I don’t depend on social media to pay any bills and don’t begrudge others from hustling. As I’ve talked about in the past, the avenues for turning social media into paychecks have become progressively fewer. I’m sympathetic to people who are cruising along, thinking they’d found a career just by making good content, only to have that rug pulled out from under them. For them, a well-meaning non-profit partner probably saved the day.
Besides, who in natural resources has not had to do work that they don’t personally agree with in order to support their family? Certainly social media creation gives one more moral flexibility than the consulting and agency work I’ve done. I’m a sell-out, too. The distinction for me and why I will not do collaborations is that when I’m speaking for my agency I acknowledge that I’m representing the policies of a massive and political entity, and when I’m speaking as ol’ Howie the assumption should be that I mean what I say and speak only for myself.
People younger than I am are probably more comfortable with their social media presence being a brand, one that they represent the same way they would if they were a spokesperson for a corporation. Leveraging that brand is an easy choice, and everyone knows the game, right? It’s hard to wrap my head around as a kid who refused to listen to any Green Day songs made after Kerplunk! Today, the concept of selling-out is almost completely dead (and also today I listen to most of Green Day’s catalog).
When I was young, A-list Hollywood actors didn’t do commercials and bands were ostracized for taking deals with major labels. Public opinion in regards to these kinds of things have changed and understandably, my standards aren’t everyone’s. That backlash was an over-correction in the first place, I think. The extents punks especially went to in order to virtue signal any resistance to their favorite band making a living became ridiculous. So when I mention that voice in my head, by no means do I think it’s the final say on any of this.
In full disclosure I’ve also turned down an offer for two free video camera bird feeder things, many offers to send me a copy of this or that book in exchange for a post, and now daily emails asking me to shill for Ben Stiller’s soda(?!)
Here’s what I have done: I have accepted free physical or digital books and art from people who were already my mutuals, though with explicitly no expectation of me posting about them. I also try to buy art from people who offer it for free when I can. When I have posted about them, it’s because I genuinely want other people to know they exist both because of their quality and because I like to see my friends succeed. I’ve also posted videos informed by talking points from the domestic violence shelter/rape crisis team agency I volunteer for. I was not compensated in any way for these posts.
Anyway, these are probably all answers to questions nobody has asked. That it’s important to me that you know that every dumb thing I say online are my own words, voluntarily given, probably only matters to me. That certainly fits given how self-indulgent the rest of my posts are.
I forgot to update about last Sunday, which ostensibly was what this blog/newsletter thingy was supposed to be. I have few memories of what I did other than read seven graphic novels back to back. This most recent Sunday I also read a lot of graphic novels. We went for a walk, I made tikka masala, I probably played Castlevania? It’s very similar to past sundays. This is why I don’t make the whole post a Sunday report.