Episode Transcript:
Miesha Williams 00:27
So when I initially thought about recording this segment it was to drag them men. I wont even lie to you. Within these last two weeks, so much has rolled out that it was like Okay, seriously, y'all set me up for a nice little oop. So let's get to it.
Miesha Williams 00:48
This episode was created using the anchor app, a free podcast creation tool, which allows you to record directly from your phone or your computer, I'm actually recording in my car right from my phone, right now. You can download the anchor app or go to anchor.fm to get started, believe me it's the easiest way to get started with your podcasts, download the anchor app today.
Miesha Williams 01:22
So before I really get into what this episode is about today, I did want to take a second and thank everyone who is tuning in and listening to me, who has been tuning and listening to me and will continue to tune in and listen to me because, you know, I took a pretty hefty break at the beginning of the fall. And I talked about this last week, you know, it was kind of just me needing time to reset what I was doing and like, really get back to, to doing what made me happy. And last week was supposed to be like the, you know, I was coming back and we've gone back on a run and everything was gonna be like super scheduled, business per usual. And I had got the episode recorded, I published it, I had a whole plan laid out for exactly how I was pushing and marketing it. And as soon as I got those first, like social media posts out, like telling you guys it was up. The next thing that I received immediately after was the news that someone that I know had died from COVID and that rocked me a little bit to the point where you know, like that day, I kind of just had to really just take a step back and rethink about like, what exactly did I want to continue doing. And it really just you know, not even just that but that and like everything else is going on. Because there's so much going on, right? And I really had to take like another week to be like, okay, well am I even gonna be able to get this episode out next week. I thought about it. And I thought about it. And I it's kind of just been like a little back and forth with myself. But here I am. And I am back. But anyway, that's not what this was about because it wasn't a sad thing, right? what I was doing what I was taking this moment to do was to thank you guys, because even while I was having like this back end discussion with myself and this back and forth, and me going back to like, again, like I said, like, kind of trying to shut it down for a second and resetting and just thinking about life and all those good things that we do when shit happens. All you guys still showed up. I wasn't able to get all the you know, like my whole marketing plan did not go as planned because you know things sometimes in life, things don't go as planned. It didn't. And you guys still showed up like the numbers are there. And it's like I didn't miss a beat. And it wasn't even me it was you. It was y'all, it was all of you. So I want to take a second and thank you because you know, even we all know what's going on y'all still show up and it's still lit like so. So we here, but I'm about to get in what we talking about today, because once again, I'm gonna start rambling. And then we'll start talking about things that has nothing to do with this. And it'll be weird. So I should probably tell y'all what we're going over today. Right, right.
Miesha Williams 04:11
So we live in a very social media ran society right now. Right? So you can say the internet kind of drives things, but no social media pretty much is driving things right now it's in the driver's seat. So you have your big hitters, your Instagram, your Facebook, your Twitter, but then you also have things like Snapchat and whatever else exists out there. I don't know if people still use Snapchat though. Right? So I said the other day I said I don't use Snapchat because I don't know it's something about the messages disappearing that don't sit right with me. And also, I just remember Snapchat being like, what people was using to cheat when I was in college. I don't know if that's still a thing but then this morning somebody also said the same thing. They was like do people still use Snapchat or is it just for cheaters and drug dealers. And I kind of make this for drug dealers that cheat. So I just haven't been on there in a while. Um But that's not that's still I'm not even on track yet. So like you have, your social media applications, right. And as you have noticed, you have also like the social media influencers, influencers, which with your air quotes, who are kind of like your middleman between brands and you, the audience, right the consumer. And so this was something that before we just seen, like as a YouTube thing, so for a while YouTube was the place where you can go to watch videos of people doing makeup or playing games and renovating their houses, I don't know. And you see, like the sponsorships, like the videos would be sponsored, or they would receive free products. And the whole purpose of them receiving free products was for them to record it and show it to their audience you so that you might go and buy it, you know, and it's like, especially for like us, black people i'm saying us black people like Everybody listen to this is black right now.
Miesha Williams 06:00
For us, African Americans, it was kind of like a big thing on YouTube, right? Because you you, especially us woman, right? Because you don't know, like, if things are going to be really black friendly. And you didn't really know until the person like let's say makeup, for example, you don't know if the lipstick or the foundation or whatever is gonna make you look ashy, until you try it on. And you don't want to waste your money and go into the store and just trying things on or you know, buying things, it's not going to be right for you. So you kind of go to social media, not social media, YouTube, and you're looking for influencers who are the same skin tone as you or have the same hair type as you or the same body build as you to see if what they're buying could possibly work for you. So it kind of helps you narrow down, you know, what you should be looking for. And that has to become like very valuable to brands, right? So why, you know, like, Why? Why are we going to send spin, like so much money. And also, let's also touch on the fact that a lot of these brands don't really have a lot of diversity in their meeting rooms, right? So we're building these products, we're making these products, but we want to tap into like the black consumers, but we don't really have any black people in our offices to make those decisions for us. So what better way to help, you know, us reach this customer base, you know, what's a better way for us to tap into them? For them to you know, like think that we're, you know, user friendly for them, then to find an influencer who can tell them directly right? Like I can spend whatever on marketing and myself I can throw commercials out there I can get billboards, I can put it in a magazine but if you think that something is only for a white woman, you're probably not gonna touch it right? But then you have people like Jackie Aina on youtube if she touches it and you're like, Okay, well shit, you know, maybe my work for me. Anyways. So the point here is the whole thought of like being an influencer was something that kind of as I see it was started on YouTube, right? Then you have like a whole other like segment of like white women on Pinterest. I love Pinterest. I love Pinterest. This is where you get like all your DIY stuff and recipes. And nobody like I think I also seem to tweet about this too. And it was like a Pinterest is the pinnacle of the internet because like nobody's talking or judging on there, it's pretty much just like, you go and just find the cute shit that you like, and you like it. And that's why I enjoy Pinterest. So it was kind of like a space away from like, all of the I don't know, I wouldn't say pressure that social media has pressure. But yes, kind of social media kinda has pressure, whatever. Anyway, Pinterest is something that you know, bloggers began using to drive traffic to their website right so you go on Pinterest, you look for a recipe, and you find a recipe that you like, you click on it, and it links you back to somebody with a blog site, right? So then you started having brands you might have like, I don't know, cottonelle I don't fucking know. Like Cottonelle for example, might reach out to somebody who has their own website or their blog to create blog pages, publish a blog about their product, you know, in you know, all this like traffic is being driven from here to here to here, here, here here. Okay, so now you have blog influencers. Alright, so you have people who is influencing on YouTube, you have people influencing on the blog space on the Pinterest space, right? But then you have Instagram, kind of like waltz in there and kind of takes over the whole idea of this right? So when you have more, you know. Instagram was introduced, you know, and we really started seeing like, especially in Black culture. people being able to really influence like millions of people off of just a picture or a story post or it's really crazy when you think about it right? So I'm not gonna go any further without first like saying, I don't know, I feel like the OG influencer was Kim Kardashian. And I know like, we don't fuck with the Kardashians. I don't like the Kardashians. I'm not gonna lie to y'all. I did go back like at the beginning of quarantine, and I watched all of I think I watched all of the Keeping Up With The Kardashians episodes. Like, y'all remember that episode of the boondocks, when Huey went back and watched all the trash television and he almost died. That was me watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians. But at the same time, I have like, I keep the mindset of like, usually, you know, if it's something that you don't like, but it works, you have to see what about it, you know, what about it exactly is working. And if you go back and look at like old Kim Kardashian, like she could really just post one thing. And it was just sold out. And it would just sell out like that quickly. And I think Kylie kind of has like the whole like this whole, the whole idea of that going too, but with her own brands, but Kimberly really started it with like other brands. And it wasn't even just brands, I think the whole way people were doing makeup changed, just based off of the way that Kim Kardashian would post her face. But that is not what I'm getting at here. And we're not gonna stick to the Kardashians or pop culture or white culture for that matter if that's a thing. Any whose, where was I at...
Miesha Williams 11:05
But you have places like Instagram, right? And now with Instagram, you have so many people who are able to make money influencing their audiences, and they don't have to be famous, right? These would be average, regular, regular shmegular people, and it's kinda like takes us into what I actually want to get into today. But I know a woman who makes 200 Well, who I'm not gonna say she makes 300,000 annually, but so far this year, she has made 300k off of brand sponsorships based off of Instagram posts, Instagram pictures, and she's not famous, she's just a regular mom of three I think. I'm sorry, if I'm forgetting one of your kids. She's, she's a mother of three and she makes money from making Instagram posts or she might post you know, your she'll post the regular pictures that she likes to herself. And then every now and then she might have a brand reach out to her to post their product. And from there, you know, you get your the language from the brand saying like, Okay, this is how we want you to lay it out. And then you kind of tweak it to fit your audience and you're able to take your own pictures and you know, you might incorporate certain things in your lifestyle that the people who follow you are used to seeing, so it seems a little more authentic, and you get paid. Right? And these how much you get pay will vary based on like how long the post is supposed to be up if this is a story post or feed posed or? Yeah, but the whole thing. The whole thing that actually like, tipped this idea off in my head was actually Ariana Fletcher, right? Ari or Arithedon. I think that's her Instagram name. I'm not sure. Um, and she's the baby mom of one of these rappers. I'm sorry, I feel so old now. Gosh, what is this? Should I cut this? I could look it up. Okay, I'm sorry. Like, I'm sorry, y'all if I don't know all these all these new rappers out here, but I'm boutta text somebody and ask who is Ari's baby daddy, the rapper, cause it's like on a tip of my tongue, but it's just not coming to me right now. Any who's? Yeah, so Ariana Fletcher is what tipped this idea off in my head because like, um, a couple like months back, not a couple months back, it might have been last year or something. I had seen a post and excuse me if I'm loud y'all because I'm recording from bed today. Um, you know, like, the thing about the rappers baby moms or, or just women in general is that usually when it comes to how women post on social media, there's always like, there will always be like a large group of men who will critique what is being done on that woman social media, basically, because she's enjoying themselves and men hate to see women enjoying themselves. And I'm not gonna turn this into a man versus woman thing. But it's true. niggas really hate to see us enjoying ourselves. Um, so like, whenever you see Ari post or Ari post. There's like, if you look underneath her post is about like, 50 men or like losing their shit over the fact that she has a fat ass. I'm sorry, can I see that? I hear that she has a fat ass. Men lose their mind over and I don't mean in a good way. Like they really be upset like, oh, why don't you go take care of her son. And you know who else has just made me think of draya right? We did the same thing to Draya like, back back in the day somebody just told me I somebody text me I said Ari's baby father name is g herbo. So good Lord, I should start writing this stuff down before I start recording. Right. But if I did, would y'all get all this back and forth talk with me. That kind of prolonged the episode a little bit. Yeah, but anyway, we did the same thing with Draya like, back back, right? Um, I think I think at that point, Draya really wasn't taking care of her son though. It was like a whole like segment of time I remember on Twitter, like, no matter what draya posted, everybody would be like, Well, where's your child or like, you know, go help him with homework or something. And I think it got to a point where I think she was purposely, like making posts that make it seem like she didn't take care of her child. Because at the same time, like we all heard the thing of like, any publicity is good publicity, right? So when it comes to social media, any type of engagement for somebody who was in the spotlight is actually good, good engagement, whether you believe it or not, right? Because if a brand is looking at into like, how many insights you have a profile clicks or shares or whatever, they're not going to be like, Okay, well, you know, this post got like, a million shares because you wasn't taking care of your child, they don't see that part. They just see that I got a million shares.
Miesha Williams 15:44
Alright, I'm gonna start laughing at myself. I'm not even funny forreal. So yeah, so this happened to Draya right. So it's not just something that just started happening recently. But you know, like, with the more popularity that is being gained on places like Instagram, and now you have like, this whole term that we have coined of Instagram models and influencers and all this other stuff, um, you know, you just see it happening to more women, right? And so like right now Ari is kinda, one of those women who is constantly critiqued by not even just men, but up by a lot of women, too, based on things that she posts and things and the things that she do, right. And I think I remember thinking, you know, like Ari says, like, is sitting on my mind right now because of like, the fact that she dated Gervonta Davis, and Gervonta Davis is from Baltimore. And I remember, like, when that whole situation was happening, you know, I was gonna I was, I was looking at it, because, you know, like I said, Tank is from here. But I remember when they broke up, and I can't remember what I was watching. But it was like a clip of her saying, you know, like, when they first started dating, you know, they hadn't known each other for that long before, like, the public figured out that they were together. So she kind of had to just, like, snap into it, and like, continue going with the flow. Because at that point, you have people watching you, and believe it or not y'all, like, that's a lot how a lot of like, the celebrities that you guys watch are and this might not be something that was planned for them, like these relationships that they get into or these deals that they get into might not be something that was planned, but shit happens. And now you have like an audience of millions who are watching you and waiting to see what you do next. So you gotta got it, you got to keep going. Because at this point, like your face, your name, and everything that happens to you in life is your brand, you have built a brand off of your lifestyle off of your life. And that got me completely off track of what we're supposed to be talking about here. Anyway. Um, so yeah, I think was like a year ago, where I was saying things about Ari, because people would joke about, you know, like, how much time she spent posting on Instagram or the type of stuff that she posts on Instagram. And I'm not saying like, this is the type of person that you should look, you know, like, Oh, you should look up this type of person or you shouldn't that's the decision that you make on your own. And that's not that's not what this is about. What I am saying is the girl makes a lot of fucking money off Instagram. So like, all the time that is being spent critiquing her and criticizing her for posting is weird, because that's how she's making a living, right? But it's like in in 2020 people still don't take making money on Instagram seriously. And now we're falling into what this is supposed to be about today. So I had remembered like, what is it the moon cosmetics? The moon cosmetics line, which is a black female owned skincare line and I remember when they were like first beginning and I had watched and I won't say first beginning because I'm not sure how long sis had been around before I had like peeped eyes on her. Um, but I had watched like the marketing technique that she had chosen like before I had it had blown up into what it is today and what she was doing what she was getting very visible women on Instagram to try our products and this was Ari and it was jayda who is the you know, girlfriend of another rapper? Lil baby I knew that one. But she was like you go Okay, so I'm gonna put my product in the hands of these women who are extremely visible online right now. And then I remember like what was it and now I don't know the exact time but I think she ended up making like a million dollars in less than 10 minutes and I think I had text somebody when it happened I said and people still don't believe the Ari effect is real. But it's not even just the Ari effect right? It's just social media influencers and y'all don't even realize like the people that y'all are watching on YouTube are millionaires and the line of like, what's considered a celebritu. Okay, so these women now I'm using this as an example so you can come to Kardashian do they are kind of like not well, Kim Kardashian obviously is a celebrity but these are like your lower level celebrities. But if you think about that, when you have the People with the audience of millions who are making millions of dollars off of it think about how many people who are kind of just like middle level influencers who are making a lot more money than that. And then think of your lower level influencers who are also now making so much more money than that. So I mean, I say all this to say, like all the joking that we do about you know, like, Oh, she takes Instagram too serious, or you I mean, we're here in music and the men be like, you know, all the time that she's spend on Instagram, she could have like, wrote a dissertation or something. Let me tell y'all, first of all, as somebody with two masters. Okay. My master ain't get me no million yet. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. And I got two of them things. So like, if I see somebody making like, you know, able to feed their entire family off of a Instagram posts, I'm not going to hate on that. Like, of course, like the road that they chose was different than the road that I chose. You know, and the shit that happened for them was it was different, right? So who am I to say that their job shouldn't be taken seriously.
Miesha Williams 21:00
And earlier in the week, and I'm actually going to pull up my Facebook as I'm saying this, so I don't get it wrong early in the week it was it was actually a post and I think it was Ari again, right? So she of course, now she's in we done named like two different guys that she was attached to, but she's in a different relationship now. And that's okay, because we're as women, y'all if these niggas are fucking up, get rid of them. That's all I'm saying. Um, she had tweeted and she said, bag, her boyfriend. I feel so corny reading this, but whatever. She said, bag set a alarm to make sure I woke up for work. And she said awww that's so cute. And somebody quote tweeted it, and by somebody, it was like one of theshaderoom things whatever, quote tweeted it and said, Oh, he woke you up for Instagram, right? And I'm not sure how many retweets this got because somebody actually screenshotted it and put it on Facebook, which is where I seen it. And then I had like, 27,000 shares after that, and 12k likes of people just laughing at it. This is my response. And if you have me on Facebook, you've seen this response. I said, I can't believe people still joke women for making money via Instagram. I know a woman who made 300k so far this year in brand partnerships. And like I said, we spoke about her earlier in this episode, just to post pictures on Instagram. And she's not famous, just a mom with a camera while you're still checking your story 20 times waiting for somebody ashy ass son to see it for free. I added ass I didn't put it in my Facebook post. Waiting for somebody ashy son to see it for free in this economy, Ari following has to be worth a couple mill. At that point, it has to be scheduled. So that's another thing, right? So we do a lot of joking about how much time people spend on Instagram without realizing that the people who are making money from their Instagram, actually, it is a job for them. Right. So they're waking up at a certain time, they're scheduling when their posts should go out, they're scheduling, when they're taking pictures, they're scheduling, when you know, their makeup should be done. All of these things is it's work. And I'm like, I think I have a couple of like mini professional photos of myself talem that I took by myself. And that shit took me half a day, right? To do it by myself. So imagine like, if that's like really how you're making your living, right? Because I have a job, I have a full time job. This is not my living. This is me talking to myself. But imagine if that's how you make make your living and imagine if the living that you're making is a couple million dollars off of posting Instagram pictures, you're going to take this seriously, you're gonna schedule it and you're gonna I'm like, you know, it's gonna, at that point it's a business, right? So people will joke about it. It's not a business at that point. It is a business. And the thing is, like, what y'all don't realize is while y'all laugh at people for doing stuff like this, because I've seen another post see where somebody was like, these social media influencers do too much. It was like, Yeah, they're doing too much because they're getting paid for it. And that's, that's, that's what y'all not realizing. And also y'all don't realize, like how much every like that y'all are giving people is worth, right? you as a consumer, you're worth a lot, and you don't realize that especially as a black consumer, and now brands are trying to make you feel like you're not important. Like they can think about makeup like I remember like it for a while you have makeup brands, who would roll out their lines, and they wouldn't even put out their, like darker foundations, they would put like the first linr would be like, just for white people. And then when people were complaining they're like, Oh, well you know, even though that's the darker foundations are going to take a little more time to curate. So they'll make try to make you feel like you're not important but you are you know, we literally like we we we give them what they create, right? We create the swag for them and then they create it and sell it back to us for a hefty fee right and that's just capitalism again because I like I said I'll turn everything back to capitalism. But everything that she posts from Twitter to Instagram, Facebook, all that is worth something. So while you're on Twitter, y'all between these brands getting the, free game or we should add this we should add this y'all be calling on Twitter, what type of features they should be adding, I'll be telling Instagram what type of features they should be adding, not even realizing like how much your ideas are worth. But at the same time, it's like how do you monetize that right? Cuz I mean, how do you sell a tweet? How do you sell a tweet You don't right, what you do is you build your audience and you build your image and you build your brand. And then you sell yourself. Which also goes into saying, if you're selling yourself on Instagram and Twitter, and then how are you judging people for doing sex work? But that's a whole nother episode. Anyway, yeah. So you can't really just like if I tweet it right now, because I mean, I would like to have Bojangles in Baltimore. I mean, I can tweet that I want Bojangles in Baltimore, but like, ain't nobody gonna pay me for that tweet. Right. But if I live somewhere that had a Bojangles, or let's say that somebody started to open up Bojangles here in Baltimore, and I had like a large following. And I reached out to him, and I pitched to them that I could like, I don't know set me up a camera, get, get
Miesha Williams 25:44
get my camera out and record me eating Bojangles. I don't know where this is going. But then I could get paid. But yeah, you guys don't realize like how much your your voice is worth. Right. And it's for us, I think it's easier for us to put down people who are doing things that we don't understand. Especially when we're miserable, right? So if I'm miserable with my job, and I don't make enough, it's very easy for me to beat down on somebody who is visible, who makes a lot more than me for doing what I deemed to be not as much as I'm doing. But that's not okay. And also, I don't do that. I use myself as an example there. But I don't do that. And I try to tell you guys not to do the same thing. So it's like, especially during a pandemic, right. So it's not even like we're really about to get off track now. But we how do you joke somebody for what their job is during a pandemic that has a lot of people out of work? How are you judging how somebody's making money? So men are getting on Facebook every day and they're mad at women for making the onlyfans maybe the only fans is what's keeping her lights on and her children fed right now, are you going to give her money? Do you have money to give her without requiring that she do something else back to you on return? If not, why are you judging her for what she does? Right? The only thing that I'll say about people with these large platforms with visibility unable and the ability to like really talk to these brands, is that I feel like they don't do enough for us, right the consumer I mean, there's very few influencers who who have like moral standards like a moral code when it comes to the brands that they work with. Because you see, like most of the people you know, take money from fashionova right. And a lot of black women you know, take money from fashionova even though every time you turn around you hear a very small you hear like small creative small, like black female entrepreneurs saying how fashion nova fucked them out of a deal or stole their designs or whatever, allegedly, right? Because I don't, allegedly but women being women be saying this? I'm not I'm not saying that they do it. All I'm saying is that the creatives, the creatives know that people say that it happens. So as somebody with a moral code, how do you say like, Okay, I know this brand is stealing from you know, people who are a part of my audience, but I'm gonna work with them anyway. And that's kind of where the line get blurred, where it's like, well, how much are you willing to do for $1? But also like, how mad can you be at people from taking dollars from brands like that? When you have like fucking billionaires who are fucking us even more right so how are we mad at these small influencers? When you have fuckin oh my gosh, I'm cursing too much any who's how are we mad at the small influencers when you have like people with who makes like billions of dollars who are doing even worse? It's just a cycle it's a cycle and I can sit here and tell you not to judge people for making their money off Instagram but those same people that I'm telling you not to judge will then turn around and call you broke when it happens. Right? So who is really right and who's really wrong in these situations because then it's like they spend their whole time selling you a dream and they got you depressed so you judge them for what they posted and they posting you know, and then they call you broke even though the reason why they got their money is because of you which is why I think we should just get rid of celebrity culture. Right and actually just tweeted this the other day what would happen if the energy that we gave celebrities we gave to the people in our life right? is I have a couple celebrities I really like go for and by a couple I mean like JID and 6lacl right and i mean i won't even add 6lack into that category because I'll be thirsty over him on the low I don't be commenting or nothing. But JID I'm very vocal about the fact that I will risk everything for him and if he hears this, let him know that my Instagram is mieshawill. Anyway, I'm very vocal that will risk everything for JID. But what if I gave that energy to the people in my life? That's a bad example. But it's like I will see people like commenting Under like celebrities post like they know them like Beyonce, for example. And Beyonce she never responds to anything and she rarely posts. It's not like Beyonce is gonna give y'all attention. We all know that if you comment under Beyonce pictures she's not going to respond.
Miesha Williams 30:14
But Beyonce posts 15 your friends are going to comment under their like, act like they know Beyonce for her whole life and also beyhive. This is not me becoming for Beyonce. I love Beyonce. This is not me coming for her. This is there's nothing to do with her. We just just just an example. And I'm so sorry for the hurt that y'alll are about to feel from this. And I did not mean to speak on the queen. But any who's if you post a picture, and then 15 your friends comment under her picture, like yes, you're so gorgeous, be so perfect. Bla bla bla bla bla, bla, bla, bla, bla bla, bla bla bla, she ain't gonna see that, and she's not gonna respond. And she probably didn't post a picture and her assistant probably did. But whatever. That's another story for another day. But then again, like your friend could post a picture, and you'll like it. Or sometimes you won't even like you just keep scrolling. And then again, it's probably also not your fault, because then we get back into like that. So okay, before I get into social media applications, let's finish this up. Your friend could the post a picture and you go ahead and you scroll right past and not like it and it's just like, Damn, was Beyonce the one that help you get over your nigga or was your friend and want to help you get over your nigga? Which one of them was there for you when you was down and out and crying and snotty nose at three o'clock in the morning crying on the bathroom floor. You know? Which one was it Beyonce cuz I don't think it was her. But we know we say what we give all that energy to people who will never see us people who will never do for us and people who will never like, know that we exist. But that's the whole point of like, the whole influencer celebrity culture is that that's the people that you have have your eyes on, right, because they are selling you a lifestyle that you want to live. So that's what you praise and you continue to praise them. Because if we were praising our friends, instead of praising celebrities and influencers, and there would be no such thing as a celebrity, or celebrity culture in a world would be a better place. And then people will be a lot happier. But this is just my opinion. But getting into these applications now. It's not even just your fault, right? So these applications, they have built themselves in a way in which it prioritizes people with visibility, right? Instagram no longer goes by chronological order, it shows you what they think you want to see. And this can be based on like, the popularity of the posts or, or the poster. So Instagram has like a couple of different things that it uses to decide what shows up on your feed. And I can't get real specific because it changes very often. But certain things like sharing a post or saving a post or liking it, right. So I could have, I could post a picture on Instagram, and Instagram would probably show it to like half of my followers. So I don't think I've ever posted a picture that every single person that follows me has been privy to right. Um, I think my last instagram post was shown to half of my followers. And that's like, within, like, the amount of time that that happens is like spread out, right? It doesn't happen right away. So while I'm posting, I post this and somebody not might not see it for another three days. But what gets the Instagram algorithm to kind of like pick up on the fact that okay, we should show this to more people is how people interact with it, right? So if I post a picture, and my friends start sharing it to their stories, which they do, I love y'all, y'all are, y'all are perfect. And my friends share it to their stories, then Instagram will pick up, you know, the pace of how many people is showing it to now, right? Because Okay, well, if it's being shared, that means there's something here that people should be looking at. So now we're going to show it to a wider audience. Right. So let's look at it this way. Shit I have to stop this segment. Now how in the world y'all let me talk for 30 ministry.
Miesha Williams 33:45
It cut off on me, Well, I didn't really cut off on me, I cut it off. But whatever it was about to cut off on me anyways. Um, so yeah, so let's look at it this way. So you post a picture Instagram shows it to 10 people. Now if those 10 people like it, and share it and comment on it, then Instagram says, Okay, let's show it to 10 more people. And so of course, the number is as low as 10. It might be, you know, they might start off by showing it to like 30 people at a time. But the point here is how much people engage with that post determines like how many more people Instagram will show it to you. And then now if you have a lot of people engaged with the post, and of course, you know, you end up on the Explore page or whatever. So you have people who click your profile if they see the picture or like the picture or save the picture, which is archiving it, which I would recommend you guys start doing to your friends or archiving their posts so that it's seen by a wider audience. It really helps hint hint sharing into your story or whatever. So Instagram shows that to like a couple of people that this happens. They show it to more people it happens they show it to more people. The problem with this being is is less that you post on Instagram and people aren't really engaging with that post, Instagram then decides that the stuff that you post is not that important. So in the future when you go to post showing it to even less people, and
Miesha Williams 35:12
the way that that algorithm sets up is it does not like it kind of fucks over like the small, everyday person, right. And kind of prioritizes big brands, celebrities and influencers. So like sometimes when my friends post, I don't see anything that they post at all, I might see like three posts on my feed, and this all sponsored posts, and it sucks. And then it's not even until like a week later, where I go on their page, I'm like oh shit, they posted a picture. And I didn't even like it. And now I feel like a creep because I'm going back liking old stuff. But it's really just how the Instagram algorithm works. And I mean, the same thing with Facebook. And the thing is, Twitter is Twitter is the same way. But I'm not going to sit here and drag Twitter for doing it because I actually have my Twitter set because you can change the settings, I have it set to show me the latest tweets first, instead of like the what they think that I should see, because that's stupid. I want to see what you're talking about right now, I don't want to see what you're talking about three days ago, just because it Instagram decided it's important to me now. But Instagram, seriously, it's Instagram is what I want to stick on. Because also this is kind of like where most of the brand dollars are coming in at right. So Twitter has made changes and is updating it's features to kind of try to tap into that brand dollar. But Instagram, you know, the dollar been rolling in for a while. And the thing is the app even though the money has been going straight from the hands of the brand, to to people to the person being sponsored, Instagram wanted to find a way where they could kind of step in in the middle and charge fees so that they can make money from that, right. Because if you haven't people make millions of dollars a years posted on our platform. And we're not making it we're not seeing nothing from it, which was like how things were set up. They weren't saying nothing from it, it sucks. So that's why you see all these new features rolling out where now if you go on Instagram, if you have updated app, you know, the middle button is no longer a new post, they no longer they're no longer prioritizing what you posted, they don't give a fuck what you post, honestly, the middle post, the middle button is now like that little shopping, little shopping tab. And so then you also have like muscle memory because, you know, for years, that button was the start a new you know, to add a new post. So you're clicking it, thinking you're about to you know, post something and it's taken, you know what, I think the middle button isn't the bag button is actually reels. And the button next to that is the shopping bag. But the whole thing about it is the same right muscle memory. And the thing what Reels is Tik Tok has become like a very lucrative platform as well. And I didn't include that one. I listed social media, but Tick Tock has become very lucrative and you have like, first of all, tik tok is weird to me, because you have like fifth graders making 100k. And I don't understand, I know you're a fifth grade. But also it's kind of dope. So Instagram did like seeing that too. And it's like, Okay, well, how can we now like take over and tap into that dollar as well, which is why you now have Reels and the shopping bag to get people to shop via Instagram. So Instagram could grab those fees. So they're now making money. And guess who does not matter anymore, you the consumer who have to press like three different buttons before you even make a post. It's not the thing about it that blows me is not even the changing of the layout. But they made the font and the buttons smaller. And as somebody like okay, so before I even go any further. I'm a developer. And I create applications and websites for those with disabilities. And accessibility is extremely important for me. So to see the Instagram had made those buttons smaller and closer together. It kind of blows me because like, it's making it harder for people to navigate. And of course, like somebody like you and me, we don't we don't see that as an issue because you know, it's whatever. But what in the world like imagine I'm already having issues like trying to navigate Instagram. And now I've got all these little tiny little buttons next to each other. It kind of sucks.
Miesha Williams 39:07
But yeah, you as a consumer, whatever it is like, they're going to make sure what you're seeing is what can make them money. Alright, so we don't care if you see your friends posts or not, we don't show you your sponsors photos. We don't care that it takes you a long time to make a new post on your feed. So we're going to show you these sponsored posts. And then you have like Twitter starting the whole fleets. Oh my God, Fleets are so funny. You have a Twitter and the whole fleets feature which is taken the whole like story idea away from Instagram, which Instagram story idea with Snapchat. All of it is about your dollar your money. You right? So I don't know. I feel like we have to be louder as customers about what we're allowing and what we're not allowing because these social media apps are first of all, I feel like the CEOs of social media companies are like super villains. They're super villains. I think. Bezos is a super villain too, but he's like the top tier supervillains. And then like the social media application CEOs are like, they up there, they they pretty up there, right? Like they try to take his little supervillain spot. But we need to be more like vocal about what we're what we're expecting from these platforms, and what we're expecting from the influencers who are making money to sell to us, because that's what they're doing. And the thing is, you don't see it as that you're being sold to right so when you're following these people who you love your favorite artists and your you know, your favorite YouTuber, you don't see it as I'm being sold to right now. You feel like you have a connection with this person, because that's the whole point. They have built a brand brand that is so personable, it makes you feel like you're their friend, like they are a part of that. And honestly, you're not your money. You're you're dollar sign and they might they might be a good influencer. And they might care about each of their followers, and they tell you that every time you tell you to like, comment and subscribe, but at the end of the day, you're how they make money. So hold them accountable, right for the shit that they post. You're following influencers who love black culture, but can't say anything about Black Lives Matter. It should be a problem for you. Yeah. Okay, so this is getting so long, so I'm gonna have to cut it soon. But I actually didn't finish talking about everything that I wanted to talk about, which I don't understand how I've been talking for, like, 40 minutes already. But like, if you don't believe, you know, like, the small things like sponsorships are important. And the image for these brands are important. what's his name DeAndre Hopkins, I think it was he had his catch that went viral. And seriously, it's everywhere everybody's been posting it. It was pretty good. And he had on a Nike glove. And they said that, just from that alone, like the visibility that Nike got out of that, that catch that photo that was taken when it happened was worth $5 million. And it might be more than that now, because I think that was like the numbers like two days ago, it was worth $5 million in this, like he doesn't see out of the 5 million that is worth how much money does he see from that? None? Because he does he's not signed to Nike. Right? So make sure you're saying No, I'm not. I'm saying make sure y'all secure your bag, like you're gonna be like a yo Nike, before I post on Instagram again, come pay me No. But if you are a person with a large following, this is also what kind of blows me some of you will be having like 10,000 followers like, why do you have 10,000 followers and you're not doing anything but posting, runtz? It's like, What is? What is that? Like? Come on? Come on, you can you can monetize that. So I'm definitely the type of person who believes that everything don't have to be monetized. But a lot of you like spending a lot of time on Instagram already. And you have a large following, and you have a pretty good engagement. So like you have, I don't know 4000 followers, you're technically considered a micro influencer, right. You're just not monetizing your audience. And it also goes to say that just because you have an audience doesn't mean that they're going to buy what you're selling. You know, that doesn't mean that they're going to, like if you start making sponsored posts that they're going to engage with it would you have to make sure that you are doing it in a way that is authentic to who you are in your voice and what people who follow you are used to hearing, right? So yeah secure your bags, if that's what you're into. And if it's not what you do, that's fine, too. And also, I'm gonna take the time to say because we've been talking about social media for so long. If you feel like you need to take a break from social media to do so if you feel like things are getting a little too much for you. Do so if you need to step away do so if you need time to reset, do so take care yourself. I'll be back with y'all next week.
