The social media antidote: real Community – with a capital C

Upgrades to Community building by way of  new social apps like the audio only Clubhouse, user monetized Fanbase and reportedly less ‘toxic’ micro blogging site Hive Social are taking their own moment to convince users to come along for a better, more curated experience, off of the quite literal ‘beaten path. {grrrrr} 

We humans are old dogs, and sadly, we don’t do new tricks well, it seems. 

Making new social habit is hard, generally, and then the specifics of switching patterns from shitty, addictive behavior is something of (wo)mans’ existential kinks of our earthly existence. 

But what of TikTok, you may say. It’s so fun, you may bark!  The Chinese owned, facial recognition software, in its American version, is made quite differently than its own, homegrown type where the Great Wall-ed Community audience consumes an intentionally more educational set of media; much more PG rated than its US ‘content creators’; think PBS and not HBO. Oh and if you’d like to register yourself as a company or business on TikTok to have a proper pro account, please be sure you upload your EID number and supporting tax documents. Are you kidding me? They are not even trying to be low key, creepy. Just upload your social and we will get your media out expeditiously. {Please pass the salve, I’m beyond irritated. }

With all those pitfalls to what a Community network really may need to flourish, it’s really surprising to me why we keep swiping for more!  Not shocking however, are my notes from over two years of interviewing & studying women, ages 22-48 on our shared social media experiences and behaviors. I have heard so many people, particularly countless women in business and loads of established, well-known thought leaders saying that social media just makes us… sad?! We are many times left feeling less than social, even suicidal. This is not exactly conducive to fostering a Community! When I actually take a closer look into my own social media consumption, even if I use it to study and also promote this antidote I am creating, I am typically left feeling like absolute shit. 

{whimper and growl!}

During those last few years of research, I have also been conceiving and building the panacea for this scratchy mess of bad behaviors in tech. In creating this new model as a digital hub and corralling new users there instead of other, extractive channels, many women have confided in me that they would rather not show up at all to seemingly prove themselves on the current version of a social media like FB, IG, sometimes even LinkedIn- the more ‘professional’ space amongst the network camps! 

With all the ‘other’ extractive, toxic and alienating garbage that is the main stream, it’s no surprise that even those of us #livingourbestlives still feels like a shadow of ourselves after we put the phone down.  

In fact, many of our new users on The Backstage Pass have mentioned they’d rather just lean directly into a trusted Community instead. Internet users far and wide, particularly busy women, would rather go straight to the source when they need  support from Community. They’ve also told me that the space we are building Backstage is expressly different and participation there actually makes them feel good, seen and valued. Wooooa! Community with a capital C is reborn, meow!!!  Phoning a friend to ask her direction as to how to find the best resources on funding for a project or educational endeavor, where to find safe, reproductive resources or healthcare answers she can trust, or even where and how to get politically inspired??  Spoiler alert, that friend is often me and I know there are more amazing connectors like me to add to this generative model.  And so I want to know, why do we keep doom scrolling when we can easily be bloom scrolling ??  { see what I did there?}