If you’re an artist or a business and you’re building your following and business on someone else’s platform like Facebook or Instagram, then you’re playing a very high-risk game.

What if Facebook disappears? We take it for granted, but we can already see that it’s dying (slowly, yes but surely) - the young people e.g., associate Facebook with “old people”. That’s the reality. It’s just a matter of time when Facebook is out. The same could happen with Instagram. Essentially, social media sites come and go.

Essentially you’re building your house on quicksand.

Another thing is that your followers are not your followers. They’re Facebook’s and IG’s followers, and they set the terms how and when and if at all you can access your followers. Facebook can charge you money to access your people. Besides, if Facebook disappears, all your “followers” disappear as well, and you have to start all over again on some other social media site that will be popular.

And let me ask you this: who owns the internet? It’s Google - not Facebook and not Instagram and not anyone else. If you’re not on Google, you’re missing out big time. And the irony is that some people tell you the opposite - that if you’re not on IG, you’re missing out. These people need to recheck the market share statistics. The money Facebook makes on advertising is peanuts compared to what Google earns.

Where do people go when they have a problem they want an answer to? They go to Google, or they go to Youtube (which is Google), they don’t go to Instagram.

For most people, social media is a massive waste of time that causes an infinite amount of anxiety and makes you feel bad about yourself - unless you’re Gary Vaynerchuk or anyone else of that caliber who is already huge on social media and therefore favored by the algorithm. If not, my advice is to stop being a sucker and build your own platform. If you’re a small fish, the algorithm will cut you out most of the time.

I’m not saying that it’s impossible to become big on social media - just that if you’re going with that route: “I wish you good luck, my friend.”

Build your own dream, not someone else’s dream. If you have your own platform, then you have 100% access to it. If you set up an e-mail newsletter, then these people will be your people, and it will be your list, and you can take that list wherever you go - it’s platform-independent. Nobody can restrict your access to your fans.

After quitting social media, I have 100% less anxiety; I am super productive, way calmer, and in general enjoy life so much more.

Even on my blog, I have no idea how many people read my articles (only a rough idea) as I disabled the statistics. If you have a blog as well, then I recommend doing the same. The statistics are essentially the same as the likes on social media - they mess with your emotions. So better to cut them off.

Of course, social media and social media marketing have their benefits - no doubt. It’s just that for me the benefits are way too small compared to the massive negative effects they bring.

So, ask yourself if social media is beneficial to you or not. Weigh the pros and cons and make a rational decision.

KRISTJAN