I recently had one of those rather painful "teachable moments."
In this case, the "Today I Learned" experience took place yesterday, when I took a photo of a homeless woman. I posted it on Steemit, and gave it a "cutesy" title to grab peoples' attention. Boy, did it ever!
My "click-bait" title, "The Homeless... Are They People, Too?" instantly became a lightning rod when several bolts of wrath were directed my way in the comments. At least one reader let me know that they were unfollowing me.
It hurt to discover that anyone would take a rhetorical question so seriously, and apparently without reading the article. I in no way intended to disrespect the woman or her condition. Had the offended reader taken a minute or two to actually read the entire post to the end, they would have found that it was - in reality - a compassionate, introspective reflection.
I was commenting not only on the state of the physically homeless, but of all humanity. I was actually comparing myself, and all of us, to her. I was trying to imagine being in her shoes. My conclusion, in the article, was that we're really not all that different; that our differences are superficial.
Butting Heads With My Readers!
Photo courtesy of Ming Jun Tan and http://unsplash.com
Thinking more about what happened,
I shouldn't be too surprised. My Steemit audience comes from extremely diverse backgrounds, different native languages, and vastly divergent cultures. Though I'm not entirely sure how recognizing that will change what I post, I will make an effort to be more thoughtfully aware in the future of how broad my audience truly is.
Reflecting on my shock at the vehemently negative response to my post, I will probably try to avoid such click-bait titles, at least for a while. At least until my jangling nerves settle down!
Attempting to remove all ambiguity, I renamed the post The Homeless Are People, Too.... And after thinking about it much of the day,
I wrote a haiku about this painful experience.
Please enjoy, and use shocking titles at your own peril...
📖What's In A Title?📖 - A Haiku
Penned click-bait title...
Wrath of non-readers smoked me!
Won't soon retry that!
My Title Turned Into a Wreck!
Photo courtesy of Blair Fraser and http://unsplash.com
Thanks for your time and attention.
I'm here on Steemit because of you, my readers. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you!
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I have very eclectic interests and hope, over time, to write about all of them.
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