I’m pretty sure I once missed out on an interesting job opportunity because my head froze up when the interviewer asked me if I could make his social media profile go viral.
What does that even mean?
I mean… I get it. He wanted a million followers. He wanted to be an influential. Fame. Adoration. Social capital. He wanted to be known and heard with a notification tab that needed to be silenced lest it wake the neighbourhood.
To me, the shy auteur and guy who values meaningful connection and measured interaction with real people, I found myself floundered by the question that came out of nowhere in the middle of a seemingly average job interview.
They keep telling us we live in the digital era, but I often think they’ve got it wrong. We live in the influencer era: social media as invaded every aspect of every layer of our lives and we have all become no less than personal brands who spend the day crafting illusions of our lives to share into those spaces. Even choosing to not participate becomes a meaningful action, one that defines a person and commodifies their social footprint.
Personally… I loathe it.
But it is inescapable and pervasive—and the reality of our times.
What’s a creative soul to do but figure out how to not get swept up in the digital river and washed away by the social networks.
Under the category of Pitch & Brand, I’ll be writing more on this topic as the months wear on.
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