Not About the Superbowl

Hung out with my Mahomies watching the Rihanna concert and thought for sure today’s blog would be about the Superbowl.

But as with many posts, after a night’s sleep where my subconscious processed the previous day’s events I find myself drawn to something different, namely a conversation I had earlier in the day about the evils of social media, specifically the haters and the trolls.

When the entirety of your social media presence is a single app and your settings are friends only, there is minimal damage that can be done. But as you open up to more platforms and reduced privacy levels, you make yourself more vulnerable.

As I work toward this goal of becoming a published novelist, I have learned that a large social media presence is normally required to drive sales to your books. The larger your presence, the more vulnerable you become to the haters and the trolls.

And in the current climate sometimes that animosity can spill out into the real world. That is truly a terrifying thought.

I admit I kind of scoffed at the idea that I would have to worry about any of that. I have 148 FB friends and 14 blog followers. We’re not talking juggernaut here.

My friend sees a potential in me for big things, for which I am extremely grateful. But I think she also sees a naivety about how brutal the world can be. I think she’s probably right.

I blow off the worry about how to protect myself from the inevitable haters, because I can’t imagine a future where I’m a big-time author with lots of followers. Not really. Not at all actually. Maybe it’s time to work on that.