-love this moodboard, seen at Loods 5 in The Netherlands
"Self confidence is the best outfit" - If you look closely, you can see a small part of this quote in the photo on the left.
You see, nothing feels better than working on something that you are passioned about. Your creative juices are flowing and you are simply happy, doing what you love to do. Your confidence is growing and there is no room for doubt in your mind. Then comes that magical moment that you are ready to share your creation with the rest of the world.
Perhaps you'll share a photo of it on social media, or on your blog, through a web shop or with a short vlog. Either way, it's time to let your beautiful creation fly out into the world wide web. Regardless what you have made, it will simultaneously get the attention of positive people and the praise that comes from them, and the scrutiny from others who are more negative and heavy on their criticism. If you send something out into this digital space we all like to scroll through, you have no idea how someone will react to you or your creation. And that is okay - not everyone likes the same kind of things and that is a good situation. We are all unique human beings and we should celebrate our uniqueness, instead of trying to be like everybody else.
So, yes - the internet is a very big and fluid place, filled with all sorts of people. Still, I wanted to point something out... not all of them are real people.
Wait, What?!
That was my reaction a couple months ago. I've encountered the fake accounts, the 'follow for follow' ones and so on. But nowadays there are 'robots' who will act like a real person. People simply buy them on the many apps that are promoting this kind of software.
All these "good job!" "love your post!" or "keep up the good work!" comments are not from real people.
Well, increasingly more and more of these 'robot comments' are not from real people. They are pre-programmed to like, comment and follow your account. Some people use this to increase their visibility, get more followers or sell more products. The 'robot' will follow you for a day or two, only so you might follow them back and then they will unfollow you. What important is to know, is that they have not seen or visited your site at all.
This practice has nothing to do with your beautiful creation. The 'robot' does not know who you are or what you created. It simply follows an algorithm to do this and sometimes they even come back to do it all over again.
I wanted to write about this because not everyone I have spoken to was aware of this practice. What bugged me even more, was that this could really knock someone's confidence down and invite the big foe - doubt. We all know how it feels to have self doubt, and putting yourself or your work out there is hard enough as it is. So please, don't pay attention to the number game or fall for the follow trap. Try to keep this in mind and know that it has really nothing to do with you.
Sharing this here is part of why I write online. For me, it's all about Genuine Real Connections. I've said this before, I would always choose my smaller steady base of readers, then go for a gazillion 'followers' who are not real to begin with. That's why I block the 'robots' right away, and I have to say it is getting better (fingers crossed).
So, just keep creating and sharing your work out there. Connect with people who are truly interested in what you have to share - the people who make an effort to comment, like or follow. And if you are reading this and we have not met, let me know so I can hop over to say Hello!
