...it is funny (sad) that i love seeing decay in nature...abandoned buildings retaken by vines and trees conjure mystery and magic in my mind...but the ghosts left behind digitally don't offer the same hopefulness and whimsy...dig what you do man...the future feels increasingly more physical and offline even if THEY want us not to see it that way...
“the future feels increasingly more physical and offline even if THEY want us not to see it that way...” oooh yesssss… who says we can’t see magazines and cassettes and paper flyers again?!?
Your regular encouragement to use the energy/time we would have spent making content for social media to instead find creative ways to connect and collaborate are so helpful. Your ideas are good. They work. I’m seeing it my life and I see it in others who do it. This is definitely the way forward.
Such great advice to carry into other areas of life.
Love the part about the Poconos.
I used to go to Daniel’s Family Resort in Canadensis, PA every other summer during the late 70s and early 80s.
Meet up with all the usual regular families and friends from Long Island that went there. I think we were usually the only family from the Baltimore area.
Maybe your parents played there sometime as the weekly entertainment?
No PA photos other than checking out Elk Country and some PA Wilds sites last September. Got very lucky with Elk sightings for my first time. Also took some abstracts of the Kinzua Rail Trestle bridge and collapse. Maybe I’ll put together a photo essay?
I want to photograph the viaduct by Wilkes Barre I think at some point.
A friend of mine tagged me on her social media account with over 62.7k subscribers and said people should check me out and not a single person came over and followed me.
I've found since I've pretty much cut back my use of social media to minor update posts, that I'm getting much more creative with how I promote my business. I've even started printing yard signs and asking family members to put them on their lawns! Handing out business cards as I talk to local business owners, hosting in person events, offering first sessions free, reaching out to be on podcasts, emailing my union (I'm also a teacher) to bring awareness and offer my services etc.
It's funny how little engagement you can get from a social media link. I used to find this when I ran accounts for people - you'd get linked on a huge platform and think *holy shit, we're taking off* and... Nothing.
YEP. I've done social media work for clients in the past, and of course saw all the impression #s. We were doing VERY BASIC, bare minimum "doing social media, and I was like, ummm hardly anyone even sees this haha
The fun thing is when you work on the 'organic social' team and spend half your job explaining why the 'paid social' team is getting better numbers than you are
Your 1 click tweet story reminded me of a time in 2021 when Medium tweeted one of my essays to their 2.2 MILLION followers. You know what happened? 13 likes. Out of 2.2 MILLION. What a joke.
Hell yes. One thing I do struggle with is community building, but I have strong, focused relationships with my clients and I have room to grow in that space. Thanks for the reminders!! And thank the thank god social media is over indeed.
Hey, clients is the great thing, as it pays the bills. The other community... that'll come. Or not?!?! Who knows. But you don't wanna rush and push that. That has to flow into whatever form it's meant to flow into, you know?
100%, when I put down work I focus on expressing myself and making the content that I want to see/make. I think over time this could attract an authentic audience! And if not, whatevs.
RIGHT. You don't need MORE work on your plate, probably. But you do need to make the work you love and express yourself how YOU wanna operate. Love it.
Thank god social media is over!!!!!! My favourite response whenever I'm asked for my IG/socials is, "I have email?" I don't think I could ever switch from gmail though, Idk why it's such a terrifying thought and why I trust Google but all the other email platforms (minus the other popular ones) feel untrustworthy like they'd do something with my information... I know it's silly and if anything it's Google that's untrustworthy with my data. Ah, humans are so unreasonable sometimes.
YES, switching email services is hard. Like switching banks, or cell phone services! But I am sooo glad I left T-Mobile (where I was paying $75/mo) to Mint (where I pay like $225/YEAR).
I worked as a freelance music journalist for 15 years. Almost none of the magazines I wrote for still exist. If they even had online archives, they've long since disappeared. 15 years of writing, mostly gone without a trace, except for some old magazine stacks in people's attics.
That's why I see my newsletter as far more than just a new way to get my writing out there – it's also an archive of my work that I control myself, and not some corporation that will pull the plug if the 'content' is not 'profitable' enough.
Yessss at least the newsletters live on in someone's inbox, or your online archive (I need to archive my posts on my own site, for sure). My first music blog is long gone, and the other was sold to Town Square Media at some point, and thankfully still online, but it'll be gone before too long.
Yeah It's not so much the inboxes for me, but the archive! As long as I keep this Substack (or export the content to move somewhere else, which is easily possible), all my older writings can still be accessed. It's almost like a diary for me, as the music, books and art I care about make up such an important part of my life.
Oh yes, that's it. Sorta why I do this Substack and my blog, which is for sorta all my other stuff... something to llook back on years from now, which I love doing.
...it is funny (sad) that i love seeing decay in nature...abandoned buildings retaken by vines and trees conjure mystery and magic in my mind...but the ghosts left behind digitally don't offer the same hopefulness and whimsy...dig what you do man...the future feels increasingly more physical and offline even if THEY want us not to see it that way...
“the future feels increasingly more physical and offline even if THEY want us not to see it that way...” oooh yesssss… who says we can’t see magazines and cassettes and paper flyers again?!?
...i am here for the handmade revolution...
I love this article so much (no exaggeration).
Trends come and go and the next “big thing” will be gone tomorrow…
Your regular encouragement to use the energy/time we would have spent making content for social media to instead find creative ways to connect and collaborate are so helpful. Your ideas are good. They work. I’m seeing it my life and I see it in others who do it. This is definitely the way forward.
thank you so much, Zach. I really appreciate the kind words. Onward!
Such great advice to carry into other areas of life.
Love the part about the Poconos.
I used to go to Daniel’s Family Resort in Canadensis, PA every other summer during the late 70s and early 80s.
Meet up with all the usual regular families and friends from Long Island that went there. I think we were usually the only family from the Baltimore area.
Maybe your parents played there sometime as the weekly entertainment?
It was a hopping resort back then.
So many memories!
WOw, Canadensis! YES! Have you photos of Penn Hills lately? That was up that way, right? Wow. I bet my parents did play there!
No PA photos other than checking out Elk Country and some PA Wilds sites last September. Got very lucky with Elk sightings for my first time. Also took some abstracts of the Kinzua Rail Trestle bridge and collapse. Maybe I’ll put together a photo essay?
I want to photograph the viaduct by Wilkes Barre I think at some point.
A friend of mine tagged me on her social media account with over 62.7k subscribers and said people should check me out and not a single person came over and followed me.
I've found since I've pretty much cut back my use of social media to minor update posts, that I'm getting much more creative with how I promote my business. I've even started printing yard signs and asking family members to put them on their lawns! Handing out business cards as I talk to local business owners, hosting in person events, offering first sessions free, reaching out to be on podcasts, emailing my union (I'm also a teacher) to bring awareness and offer my services etc.
YESSSSS yard signs, local stuff, networking with your own community! I love all this.
It's funny how little engagement you can get from a social media link. I used to find this when I ran accounts for people - you'd get linked on a huge platform and think *holy shit, we're taking off* and... Nothing.
YEP. I've done social media work for clients in the past, and of course saw all the impression #s. We were doing VERY BASIC, bare minimum "doing social media, and I was like, ummm hardly anyone even sees this haha
The fun thing is when you work on the 'organic social' team and spend half your job explaining why the 'paid social' team is getting better numbers than you are
Allllll about the numbers SIGHHH
I loved reading this, by the way.
This makes me wonder how much longer storage costs shoot to the moon for the everyday user, like myself.
I have to up my Google account storage for my photos 😂
Your 1 click tweet story reminded me of a time in 2021 when Medium tweeted one of my essays to their 2.2 MILLION followers. You know what happened? 13 likes. Out of 2.2 MILLION. What a joke.
But then I post a video that accidentally goes viral of me breaking a food scale, gain 1000s of subscribers only to lose them all
By a year later. Social media is insane.
Oh my goodness that is horrible!
More like pathetic lol.
We are on the right track here, Seth!
Great post, thanks!
This was great! Getting more involved with community is something I'm definitely trying to get better at :)
Thank you!!! Community is where it's at!
One of your strongest salvos yet. RAVE ON, SETH! ❤️
Oh, I will continue to rave on! Thanks so much :)))
Hell yes. One thing I do struggle with is community building, but I have strong, focused relationships with my clients and I have room to grow in that space. Thanks for the reminders!! And thank the thank god social media is over indeed.
Hey, clients is the great thing, as it pays the bills. The other community... that'll come. Or not?!?! Who knows. But you don't wanna rush and push that. That has to flow into whatever form it's meant to flow into, you know?
100%, when I put down work I focus on expressing myself and making the content that I want to see/make. I think over time this could attract an authentic audience! And if not, whatevs.
RIGHT. You don't need MORE work on your plate, probably. But you do need to make the work you love and express yourself how YOU wanna operate. Love it.
Thank god social media is over!!!!!! My favourite response whenever I'm asked for my IG/socials is, "I have email?" I don't think I could ever switch from gmail though, Idk why it's such a terrifying thought and why I trust Google but all the other email platforms (minus the other popular ones) feel untrustworthy like they'd do something with my information... I know it's silly and if anything it's Google that's untrustworthy with my data. Ah, humans are so unreasonable sometimes.
YES, switching email services is hard. Like switching banks, or cell phone services! But I am sooo glad I left T-Mobile (where I was paying $75/mo) to Mint (where I pay like $225/YEAR).
I did not know about stickers. Son of a bitch. Stickers.
I worked as a freelance music journalist for 15 years. Almost none of the magazines I wrote for still exist. If they even had online archives, they've long since disappeared. 15 years of writing, mostly gone without a trace, except for some old magazine stacks in people's attics.
That's why I see my newsletter as far more than just a new way to get my writing out there – it's also an archive of my work that I control myself, and not some corporation that will pull the plug if the 'content' is not 'profitable' enough.
Yessss at least the newsletters live on in someone's inbox, or your online archive (I need to archive my posts on my own site, for sure). My first music blog is long gone, and the other was sold to Town Square Media at some point, and thankfully still online, but it'll be gone before too long.
Yeah It's not so much the inboxes for me, but the archive! As long as I keep this Substack (or export the content to move somewhere else, which is easily possible), all my older writings can still be accessed. It's almost like a diary for me, as the music, books and art I care about make up such an important part of my life.
Oh yes, that's it. Sorta why I do this Substack and my blog, which is for sorta all my other stuff... something to llook back on years from now, which I love doing.