The Futility of Showing Up
Writing essays is easier than posting them. I learned that the hard way. Social media is a tough game to crack. Tougher because it demands consistency. Which, if you lack, you are done. The algorithm is fickle. The people who succeeded have no idea how they managed it. So they parrot consistency. Because that is the only thing that makes sense.
Showing up every day is not the issue. I show up every day to a blank page anyway. That does not bother me. Because the expectations are aligned. I know nobody is going to read. Or very few will. With a blog, you can always count on it becoming your personal diary. I am building the writing muscle with these daily essays. Speaking into a void. But once in a while I have to ask: what exactly is this training for?
They say writing every day is therapy. Therapy because you are paying for it without getting anything in return. I tried converting my essays into shorter formats for X and Substack Notes. I turned a few into standalone newsletters for Substack. No response. I am not one to grumble about a low response rate. Because that is normal for me. I have never gone viral. Ever.
But posting every day feels like a chore. A weight on the shoulders. I feel like I cannot keep up. I remind myself there are too many things on my plate. But truth be told, converting essays into short-form content takes about five minutes. That is when I realise it is not the effort. It is the futility behind it. I do not see its purpose. I would rather promote my blog everywhere than reshape my content for other platforms.
On LinkedIn I get a decent response. But the professional network makes me hesitant about posting everything. The people there know me. They talk to me. I do not want them reading my essays and then confronting me over messages or in person. So I avoid sharing most things there. Writing on Substack was once touted as the next big thing. I enjoy reading newsletters there, at least.
Social media is unforgiving. You disappear for a few days and it forgets you, the way a newborn forgets a face. You have to work hard to recapture the algorithm's attention. You have to do everything again. All over. From scratch. You have to engage with people. Simply consuming their content, liking it, is not enough. You have to tell them you liked it. That is how algorithms operate.
When you look at the content that goes viral on social media, you feel inadequate. You realise you are not even writing in the category that goes viral. And while you could, you have no desire to. Because it does not excite you. So it comes down to what you want to write versus what spreads. The consistency requirement just adds insult to injury.
All in all, I am not a fan of social media right now. Maybe once I start going viral I will change my tune. Everybody is a hypocrite that way. I am writing this because there was a rant building in my chest that needed an exit. The conclusion remains the same. If you cannot produce what goes viral, produce everything with such volume that the algorithm is eventually forced to pick one of your pieces.
That is basically how failure works too. Fail enough times and you will eventually succeed. I know this side of the mathematics. But sometimes, probability is a bitch.