Unfollowing – Hottesome

First and foremost happy end of July!!! It’s National Avocado Day and that’s one “friend” who will always be there for you… each time you’re willing to spend the extra dollar… I’ve been sitting on this idea for over a month… so here it goes…

The Art of The Unfollow

Friends, Acquaintances, Avocados… old flames… why after years of (mostly) platonic social media ship does someone suddenly decide to walk away or play sheep…

It’s August tomorrow… already and you spent it being ju-lied to worst than Hanna B. was on this season on The Bachelorette (she should’ve choose Peter… I mean she only slept with the guy four times… but we dig Tyler too… Jed… however… just wow):

So I invested my energy maybe two years ago into utilizing an unfollowers app for Instagram (which now allows you to track your stats in that department) and sometimes for Twitter as well…

Being followed and unfollowed happens frequently for all people and even more so for those who are noteworthy or verified. Say you’re Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) and you’re trying to reach out to potentially new fans… but you.. your social media specialist/manager, legal guardian or mom (depending on your age and/or habits… maybe she’s your manager or publicist)… isn’t putting in the work to actually connect with fans… like a comment… typing out a responses… and all the ways to socialize/network with people via media…

Are you/they jaded or detached… Is it just a numbers game… why do you want me to follow you…. why do I want you to follow me… I’m no better or worst than anyone else in the world (if everyone had a clean slate, which they do before you personally get to know them truthfully)…

For me when I connect (in person or online) with everyone who wants to connect with me and even those years after college, working, living or collabing together… I continue to be invested. It doesn’t really change the friendship or relationship with those people when time passes… however social media is how everyone will eventually predominately stay in touch as time progresses and Generation Z adapts amazing new concepts and we’ll all still collectively agree that life is expensive, but being yourself in person and/or expressing it online is all pretty much free… and your validation is always your own.

Depending on what you do or what you want to do career wise having a channel, blog or social presence is almost all about the visual resume nowadays… not just for employment but for life goals… new friendships… new loves… If you’ve ever been on a dating or “casual dating/hookup app” you know you’ve trolled your potential love or lust interest in a matter of minutes and made your notions about said human based on those “visual resumes” (Twitter, SnapChat, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and so on).

So what in a visual resume is enough to make you swipe left on an old “ship” or person you could be interested in but they have odd features (to you)… and what’s enough to keep swiping yes to way too many friends to count…

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make more friends in person or online… but keep an open mind… it takes effort to be effortless… it takes pull push… if someone you’re already friends with of any nature makes an effort… make the effort back…. if new person connects with you first you could consider their outreach in the form of a hopefully genuine re-friend/follow/like/comment/snapchat/response back… like an interview… granted you’re not going to get everything from that individual right away… however you will know that it’s worth getting to know that person within a few days depending on their history and productivity… if you follow someone first note they might be approaching this as you would when you are in their shoes…

Not getting those likes, follows, etc.. is not the end of the world… at the end of the day you’re still living your truth and that’s all that matters… be your biggest fan first and always.

As for the Purge…

Those FB and IG friends who filter out all the bad/negativity in their life you’re amazing… however if you lump people who you’ve never had any issues with and only good vibes or memories and support you no matter the last time you physically interacted… but haven’t reached out or been reach out to sense the last life event or months ago… consider reaching out first before you group them in with that epic post “sorry not sorry if you’ve been deleted”…. In truth any relationship is not going to be limited by a simple lower follower count you’ll still keep in touch the old school ways… No not MySpace, Facebook or even SnapChat… but the phone… an email… a postcard… a letter…. game night… the reunion… until then… “Ride til you can’t no more!”