No, artists don't need social media

Especially not TikTok.

I have never written a post like this before in my life. I'm as far away from confrontational as you can get - terrified of offending or of "starting beef". It's not my style. But when one of my favorite Substack writers published this a few days ago, I knew I had to say something about it.

Yes, artists need social media

I'm a fan of Elle, and her work, and will continue to be. And even though this is a well written piece, and I agree with 80% of it, there are some things in it that make me frustrated, and that I want to adress. Not to get attention, or start an argument, but simply to voice my opinion on the matter. The topic of social media and marketing for creatives is dear to my heart, something I've thought about for many years and explored in several essays and videos of my own.

Let's start with the things I disagree with Elle on.

She opens her article with an anecdote of a street performer she met and wanted to follow online. Specifically, she asked for the performer's TikTok account. And when she replied that she didn't have one, Elle got frustrated: "playing for 12 people every weekend with no way to grow an audience isn’t going to get her far. She’d be better off playing on TikTok, where her work could reach thousands."

I agree with the underlying sentiment: Yes, artists should make their work seen or heard online as best they could. They should make themselves "followable" in some way, otherwise it is a lost opportunity. We want to be able to discover, but more importantly stay in touch with, our favorite artists and creatives online.

But there are many more ways of getting your art seen than being on TikTok. In many ways, TikTok can’t even be considered a true social media but more of a distraction engine. Or simply a content platform. The primary function is not to let you follow the people you want to follow, and build relationships, but to feed you algorithmically determined "viral" content and keep you distracted as long as possible.

But Elle uses the words "social media" and "TikTok" interchangeably here, as if they are one and the same. And she celebrates TikTok for how invaluable it is for artists. That is, for the few creators - the outliers - who have gone viral on the platform and seen success from it. I doubt the majority of artists on the platform would agree with her statement. Also: going viral does not guarantee business success (whatever that looks like.)

"Any video could become an artist’s big break. This is thanks to the app’s algorithm which pairs each video with the people who might best like it."

Theoretically, yes. This is not only true of TikTok, but of most of the major social media platforms right now. And by that I mean Instagram and YouTube in particular. Their algorithms are optimized to keep users engaged for as long as possible, which means putting irresistable content in front of them. They do it really well, which is why these platforms are such time sucking rabbit holes.

For creators though, they are digital slot machines, or lotteries. Put in tons of time and energy, and if you're really lucky, something you put out there will go viral and you'll gain lots of followers. Followers who may or may not be interested in what you actually have to sell. I think most of us can agree that what we want is not followers but paying customers. (Eyeballs do not pay for groceries or art supplies, after all.) And a social media follower rarely translates to a true fan and patron, or even a newsletter subscriber. Elle even says it herself:

"I checked: of my 5,245 newsletter subscribers, only 137 came from social media."

Exactly. That is my, and a lot of other creatives', experience of social media as well. A lot of hard work for very little actual return.

Then we have the problem of BookTok, and using it as an argument for writers and authors to be on TikTok. Being a performer is one thing: As a dancer or musician, showing your work in a visual/auditory medium makes sense. Your art can be enjoyed in a similar way online as in person, only by a much larger audience. A small fraction of those viewers might someday buy a ticket to one of your shows.

But having your art compete in these huge “virality lotteries” comes at a price. There are downsides to placing yourself in the same gigantic fish pond as the rest of the world - the equivalent of performing your art by the side of a busy highway. You'll have to be even more extraordinary and eyeball grabbing to stand out in an environment like that. You might want to resort to click-bait or sensationalism. It will affect your creative process in a negative way. Not to mention what it does to your psyche.

Not all art can be performative. Not all art can to be done in front of a camera or a live audience, or churned out on schedule, three times a day. A lot of us (most of us?) need solitude and a little boredom in order to think deep thoughts, have original ideas, and be able to create at all. And in this day and age, those things are increasingly hard to find. We need to guard them carefully, and wrestle them out of the hands of these tech giants.

So, TikTok makes little sense for most artists in my opinion. And for writers it probably makes the least sense. Our craft is not visual, and not very eye grabbing at all. The very act of practicing our craft is definitely not interesting to watch. So building a readership as a writer is probably a more complex and time-consuming task than doing it as a visual performer. And yet, there is pressure on authors by publishers to be on social media. It makes me furious, for many reasons that I won't go into here.

But going back to Elle's essay, she mentions a few bestselling authors doing really well on TikTok right now.

From what I can see though, neither Madeline Miller nor Colleen Hoover are on TikTok themselves. It's their readers that are marketing their books via word of mouth, using TikTok. These authors are successful because they are talented and productive. Not because they are on TikTok, wasting their time and having their attention span eroded.

The same goes for the other social media apps as well. Can they help boost an author's following and sales? Yes. But not very effectively. And not necessarily via the author themselves. This blog post by Chuck Wendig is an insightful discussion of how effective being on social media really is for authors. To summarize it: Readers sell books, not authors. The same likely holds true for musicians, and visual artists. They put their art out into the world. But the fans sell it, and nothing sells as effectively as a recommendation from a friend. As an artist or creative, if your work is any good, your fans will do much of the marketing for you.

Not all of the marketing though. And on this, I fully agree with Elle:

"I don’t know where artists get the romantic notion that they should be able to JUST do art, and that should be enough to find readers and make a living from it—as though someone else should handle all the marketing and make it successful."

True. We can't just make our art and hope that someone will magically stumble upon it. We do need to show up, as artists. We need to show our work consistently, talk about our work, build relationships, build an audience.

But there's a big difference between doing NOTHING in the realm of marketing, and wasting time on social media platforms. There is a middle ground between making art in complete obscurity, and hustling for the TikTok algorithm. And I don't think Elle does a good enough job of distinguishing between the two.

She does makes sense to me when she writes:

"You know what I don’t love though? Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn. I’ve wrestled with these apps since I started them. In a lot of ways I felt like I had to do them—LinkedIn is important for my job as a journalist, Twitter too, Instagram is just everywhere. But I just can’t stand being on those apps—it’s too easy to come across something terrible when you’re trying to see something good, and I don’t love having my day sidelined by an errant post I happen to see there."

It would make even more sense if she hadn't already spent so much time waxing poetic about TikTok - the most chaotic, distracting, and algorithm-controlled app of them all. If you dislike being grabbed by the eyeballs and held in an attentional straight jacket, being shown stuff you didn't choose or chose to follow, TikTok should be banned from your phone.

But I digress. If Elle is in love with TikTok right now and it inspires her - good for her. I hope she continues to enjoy it. But liking something for yourself does not mean you have to push it on everyone else. Or demand that every street performer use it.

TikTok is trending the same way Vine or Snapchat or Instagram trended for a while. They too have had their golden ages, and have helped many creatives break through and build a following. For a while. It will not stay that way indefinitely. TikTok uses the same business model, and will go down the same route, as these other platforms: with lots of unpredictable algorithm changes, more and more ads, and creators complaining endlessly about dwindling reach and results.

So however much you like the app right now, for god's sake, don't build your business foundation on borrowed (and earthquake-prone) land.

I think it's tragic and downright dystopian that artists are forced to become performing monkeys for algorithms. Either by publishers/labels/employers, or via pressure from experts and influencers online. Articles like this can perpetuate that pressure. Make us even more stressed out and anxious over not doing enough, on top of the damn art we're trying desperately to make, among all the distractions and obligations of everyday life.

Elle includes a quote by author Fire Lyte, who says:

“Most of us don’t have the time to do this. I should be researching my next book but I’m here doing this hoping it goes viral.”

She's right. We don't have time for this. And we don't need this. Artists don't NEED social media. None of us really do. It's an optional thing with upsides as well as downsides.

What artists NEED to do is work on their craft, build a body of work, and show that work to people. And there are better options for showing your work than social media. Having a website is a good start. Doing PR and having an email list is even better.

An email list is not a social media, it's a method of direct communication. A way for people to truly follow you, in a qualitative, reliable and personal way. People can reply to you in private, but there is no social network and no algorithm. There are no ads or distractions. We have full control over how our email looks, when it goes out, and who gets it. We own our email list and can take it with us anywhere we go.

And Substack, which both Elle and I use and love, is simply an augmented version of a newsletter service, with some content- and social functions added in. But it's not a social media, and that's why we love it.

"Because there is no algorithm, I read only the work of those I’m subscribed to. As a result, I am guaranteed to love whatever shows up in my feed."

Exactly! As opposed to...TikTok? 😜

Jokes (and jabs) aside, I agree with the larger takeaway of Elle's essay. We can't just sit in our proverbial chambers, making our art. We do need to "get out there" in some way, whatever that means to you. Because it is an individual choice. What works for one creator might not work for another. There are many ways to market ourselves, and it does not have to feel like a thankless grind or a soul-sucking chore. Marketing can be fun, if we approach it in a way that works for us. Social media, however fun it might be sometimes, is not mandatory. Or even advisable in many situations. If you struggle with mental illness, depression or anxiety, please, please, please don't feel forced onto TikTok. Run in the opposite direction.

You don't need to go viral to build an audience.

You don't need to make stupid 15-second-videos just to get your art seen.

You don't need to hustle for algorithms.

Just because everyone else is doing something doesn't mean you have to do it.

Think for yourself.

Make your art.

Get good at your art.

Put your art out into the world.

Talk about your art with as many people as possible, online and offline, in formats and settings that you enjoy.

And make yourself "followable" via channels you control.

Being a creative is hard enough as it is. Let's not complicate it further.

(And Elle, if you're reading this: I hope you don't feel attacked. 😊 I know we really agree on this and it's mostly a question of semantics. I love your writing. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to voice my opinion.)

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