This post is a bit different because I wanted to vent today and just talk about how other social media platforms change their original set up into algorithms and how these drastic changes ruin the sharing experience for everyone and not just with friends, family, loyal followers, but also for new potential supporters, brand companies and the everyday browser. I don't think I need to name the specific social media platform, because I believe you all know which one I am referencing to, but if I am wrong then message me on steemit.chat or DM me.
I've never shared Steemit links on any other social media platform, because I love this unique community, which I am connecting with on here and I just wanted to enjoy this community without pressure. But this time, I will share this Steemit link everywhere because people should know about how nice and how good Steemit really is to its users. It has nothing to do with the money or the up votes, it has everything to do with the creative freedom, engaging and uplifting community and the many opportunities to grow from one another here. That is truly how Steemit pays its users with values beyond its monetary reward system
I am trying to post as much as possible here, because I love the way Steemit gives me a gallery of my work to look back on and allows me to see and analyse my progress, and I know there is no pressure or limiting filtering that stops me from growing organically.
I am not tied to any posting schedules here on Steemit, or having to use a crazy amount of hashtags; the community is genuine, organic, and real.
Coming back to the SHADOW BANNING I was talking about,
it is also a new thing that I had just found out about and recently discovered. For those who also don't know what Shadow Banning is, here is a link that will inform you on some basic knowledge and some important fundamentals to keep in mind regarding a general range of varying social media platforms that Shadow Banning is utilised in.
Shadow Banning Information
I have been posting on several social media platforms, but a specific platform banned me for using specific hashtags without even notifying me or other users about the consequences or risks of using these seemingly harmless hashtags.
A quick side note before I realised that I had been Shadow Banned, I had taken a one year hiatus/break from this specific platform, while I was pregnant with my son Marcello and I had returned after recovering in the month of late October-early November.
I noticed a big drop in activity and engagement on my main account, but I thought it was because I was away for a long time. I thought this was just a normal result of me not posting for awhile and being inactive and I continued to use specific hashtags for example like: # like, # thought, # woman, # women, and # tgif Harmless right? Little did I know, I was furthering the length of my own shadow ban on my account. I kept continuing to use these hashtags what I had saved in my notes and then when I created a new account for a completely different genre and branch of style, I noticed that when I had clicked with this new account I had created, which I am not following with my main account, on the hashtags that I used for posts on my main account, I saw that I couldn't even see my post for my main account, which used these hashtags that I was looking up on my new account, because I always like to do research and test to see what is the most effective way to grow. When I realised this, it was so puzzling, confusing, and frustrating.
I couldn't believe it, that all my efforts, strategising and researching the right hashtags to attract my targeted, niche audience was for nothing and a complete waste of my time. It is unbelievable that this method of shadow banning even exists, because this platform tricks you into believing that everything is okay without any notifications of any wrongdoings or rule breaking, and that you are completely oblivious to what is really going on while they block your progress, limit your audience and hide your material from even your own day one followers. They trick you and your followers, because you and your followers can see these specific Shadow Ban triggering hashtags as only normal hashtags, just to keep you quiet or to perhaps prevent any further action, outburst or protest against them.
I don't know where everything went wrong, but social media platforms are for socialising, fun, sharing beautiful moments and ideas, advice, inspiration, motivation and other facets of life, but as of lately, it just seems directly focused on stopping the progress of organic, dedicated and passionate users as myself, in order for them to starve us out of growth and then have the audacity and nerve to promote and market their services to "Promote your page" since they want to profit off of your frustrations during your downfall due to their strategic methods to block you without communicating why or how this came to be.
That is why I refuse to mention their name, because I don't want to promote them or their rigged, unfair system. I have never bought followers and never used any promotional packages offered to me by those specific companies to stay in the reach of a bigger audience, because I believe in organic and strategic growth based off of consistency, quality, and happiness. I connect with my users as personally as I can, even with my two children and lovely husband, and choose not to use a robot for automatic comment replies because the human aspect of social media and communicating with people should remain a constant factor of real connection.
If you like this blog post about what I am writing about, please let me know in the comment section below, especially if you have any thoughts, feedback, suggestions or sharing this with your friends if you know anyone who is experiencing the same issues, or similar problems. But for now I feel better already, venting is a healthy thing to do if done respectfully and correctly so Happy 1st of May everyone!
Thank you for taking time out to read this post in its entirety, I hope you all are having an amazing 1st day of this month of May.
All Gifs used from Giphy.com
Next post coming tomorrow
