Recently, Instagram did a little ‘clean up’ and basically scalped us all – some more than others. While I did not particularly feel ‘affected’ by this act of cleansing, I am well aware that some were.
There have been rumours of some bloggers buying their followers, while others have basked in the glory of ‘calling them out’ on their actions. Yes, apparently we have the bloggers-who-buy-their-followers police.
A few months back, a post was published by a local Montreal blogger, and judging by the way it was written, the post publicly shames the individual who was accused of purchasing followers. The post was, in my opinion, juvenile (not to mention, incredibly shameful) and executed in very poor taste (particularly on social media). The true motive behind the post was covered by a veneer of a self-less act to honour their respect and admiration of public relations companies.
While time has passed since the post was published, I still hear about the topic in passing. I’m not going to name names, because that would make me a jerk, but the reality is that their said-reasoning behind the (over)share, is a crock of nonsense.
In addition, the techniques mentioned on how to spot an insta-troll-follower-buying whatever have you, was anything but an enlightening experience. I know what you’re thinking: “well if you found his/her post offensive, why bother writing about it and raising the issue months later?”
Why? Because I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on the numerous conversations that I have had with countless friends and colleagues, and I’ve taken the feedback and allowed enough time to digest this information (before publicly posting my thoughts).
This person sold a false bill of goods to their audience, using sensationalist information to get a rise out of people. Now, where else would we see this kind of behaviour….oh right, high school!
For the record: I have my own painful memories of being bullied in high school, so when I see kind of virtual bullying taking place amongst a crowd of 20-30 something year-olds, it really grinds my gears.
Do you remember Mean Girls? Yeah? Okay, great. It was a movie. Leave it at that.
Let’s just assume that there was a ‘good intention’ behind his/her cause. Good will is positive and it comes from an honest place. This post certainly did NOT come from a good place. The string of comments on Facebook and the insults which ensued on the behalf of the target blogger were beyond demeaning, and the attitudes were for lack of a better way of putting it, despicable.
It’s taken me a while to put my words into a diplomatic structure, so not to leave my own virtual trail of breadcrumbs that might come back to haunt me (unlike our blogger ‘bully’), so I would like to ask our bully this:
What makes you all ‘high and mighty’ for having the gull to shine a spotlight – albeit directly, but indirectly – on someone else’s experimental social-growth techniques? How do you know that it was not simply a consequence of naïveté?
Where you claimed to have done it ‘out of the goodness of your heart’ (more or less) to protect and honour the public relations agencies who you claim to have loads of respect for, has this in any way helped you to leverage your traffic?
The Reality Of Statistics And Blogging
The real meat and potatoes of any bloggers statistical relevance, is a combination of all mediums. Your website’s content and traffic remain paramount, social media coming in at a close second. Measuring the rank of your online presence is based on a platform which is trackable via search engine. Sure, Instagram is available online, but at the end of the day, it’s an app and only holds so much value in comparison to your website.
There are numerous tips and tricks that websites will try to ‘sell’ you on over the world wide web, but if someone wants to buy their followers, let them! Come the next insta-purge, they will all be gone anyways, so focus on your own fancy schmancy blog.
No, I do not in any way feel that I am above this individual, or any other creative for that matter. I view us all as being equals, but I refuse to remain silent about this issue, because it is a symptom of much deeper problem within the fashion and blogger community in general.
It’s about time that things change, and we become more supportive of one another. This isn’t an arms race into battle, so it’s about time that we stopped treating it like one.
