If Instagram and TikTok didn’t exist, would people still “create”?
Whether people want to admit or not, the thought that nearly everyone has kept in the back of their mind while on a photoshoot for the last 15 years is “Will this do well on social media?”
If you’re a model, photographer, dancer, actor, baker, etc.. Would you still create if you couldn’t post it to a social network? I’ve met many people who were only at the photoshoot to produce “content” for Instagram. And I gotta be honest, that sucks. Cause really that means the thing they’re actually into, isn’t the process of creating art, playing or experimenting. That means the thing they’re actually into is getting validation & gaining social notoriety through posting on the internet.
Here’s another version of the question: What videos would people create and post if you couldn’t follow or like any of the posts?
What if TikTok/Instagram/YouTube didn’t exist, and the only way people could watch a video on the internet would be to have a direct link to an actual website, where the video file was hosted, and that’s it. You couldn’t follow the person who created the video, and you couldn’t like the video. You could only watch it thru a direct link on a website.
How many of the videos that you see on TikTok would still be posted if you couldn’t follow the creators or like the video? I would think, not very many.
And that’s the problem. Whether people are putting out comedy videos, lifestyle content, political videos, outrage at whatever is in the current news cycle that day, etc.. All of these people aren’t actually creating for the sake of spreading the word about their topic, they’re creating to have people hit follow and hit like.
Keep that in mind next time you’re watching a short form video. Ask yourself: “Would they still make and post this video if no one could follow them or like the video?”
Till next time,
-Oliver Endahl