I have been wanting to write this article for a while and, after watching “The Big Social Media Debate” livestream on the Grassroots Gazette Instagram account, I decided there’s no time like the present. In the beginning stages of having my Instagram account, I thought it was all about the numbers. Every day I would check how many followers I lost or gained, and it honestly made me feel a little crazy! Obsessing over the numbers drew my focus away from what was really important – using social media to be social and connect with the community you’re building online.

Social media is a strange thing. It can be a very toxic environment that leaves you feeling isolated and inadequate. We all scroll through our feeds and compare ourselves to what we’re looking at. I know it’s easy to say we should just stop comparing ourselves to others and realistically we all know that most of what we’re seeing is a highlight reel of someone’s life, but it’s still hard to stop those thoughts from creeping in. “Why don’t I look like that? Why can’t I have that? Why don’t I get as many likes as so and so?”

There have been studies that show that people associate ‘likes’ on social media with popularity in their real lives which is simply not the case. I think we all need to remember that the amount of followers/likes you get on social media is not a reflection of who you are as a person. We live in a time where you can spend a measly amount of money and magically get thousands of new followers and hundreds of likes on a post but what good are they? Those bot accounts and ghost followers are simply there to make it look like you have a larger following than you actually have but they have zero interest in what you’re actually posting. When it comes to social media the numbers you have are so irrelevant – it’s all about quality over quantity.

Many of you may be thinking – but surely having more followers is the end goal here? Actually it’s not! If you have 5000 followers and 4000 of those are fake then none of those fake followers will be interacting with your account which will actually drive your engagement down. When you’re speaking to brands who are looking to collaborate with you, they are much more interested in your engagement rate than the number of followers you have. You should aim to have your accounts full of real people who are following you because they are invested in your journey and routing for you every step of the way.

Over the past year I came to the realisation that I post on Instagram, because I want to; I upload to YouTube, because I want to. If no one likes my photo then that’s ok. If no one watches my video then guess what? That’s ok too. I can’t begin to tell you the weight this has lifted off my shoulders and the enjoyment I’ve found in my social media accounts since realising this. “The Connie Chronicles” is my space to share whatever I would like to. If people are inspired or motivated by what I share then that’s an added bonus, but I do it because I enjoy it and that’s all we should really strive for.