Just Post It

For good or bad, social media is a category fully entrenched in day-to-day life. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok have billions of collective users who log in every day. Social media platforms hunt for our attention, and they get it. There is both a lot of good and a lot of bad resulting from social media platforms. In focusing on the good, information and videos of how to do anything are clicks away, inspiration and people to look up to are a follow away, but most importantly, there has never been a time in humanity’s history where it is easier and more realistic to be found.

Throughout history, musicians used to have to audition and hope for a big break to release a hit song. Now, musicians are constantly posting to Soundcloud and TikTok, starting trends with songs that seemingly blow up overnight. Athletes used to have to mail tapes to coaches with the hopes they would respond. Now, there are countless recruiting platforms aggregating data with the click of a button. People with a passion for cooking used to only have it as a hobby. Now you can make a career of making “How-to” videos on TikTok or Instagram Reels. All it takes is the right person to be moved by what you posted. You need one break to go your way.

Is it possible that some people had their first post go viral and have immediate success? Absolutely! But they still chose to take action and post. People who think about their ideas, hobbies, and entertainment value, and choose not to act, are missing the chance to change their lives. “Just starting” with social media involves deliberate action. It involves finding something you are passionate about, want to share, want to work towards, and hitting post. Nothing will happen with inaction. It is important to realize your first posts do not need to be perfect. You do not need to know how to edit videos to make a TikTok. The more you post, the more you inherently practice. Through posting more, you will learn more tricks on how to produce content people care about and want to watch.

Posting on social media is hard. It involves taking normally private activities, events, pictures, and conversations, and making them public. Social media is hard because of Self-Doubt. “They are prettier.” “I look fat.” “I sound weird.” “People will look at me differently.” The number of deterrents I can come up with about posting is limitless. Provided you can move past these thoughts and hit post, you will encounter further feelings of doubt. “I only have ___ likes.” “That person I wanted to like this post did not like it.” “I have been posting for 2 weeks, and my engagement has not changed.” Pre and post-posting self-doubt are very common feelings to have in social media and are some of the most negative aspects of social media.

The most powerful feeling is when you can overcome these thoughts. Realize you are putting your posts online because you want to. You are posting for yourself. It does not matter what ___ from high school thinks of you. You want to see what your account looks like in a year of posting workout videos. You believe your at-home cooking videos are worth creating, worth posting, and worth watching. You care, and that is what matters the most.

When you overcome these feelings of self-doubt with social media, you are much freer to act and pursue the unlimited potential of what can happen with social media. Move past the negative feelings holding you back and just post.