"Well, I feel you're a better artist and content creator compared to MoonBloom.👌🏾"
"😱Really???"
"For real. I never miss any of your posts. I'm your biggest fan lol."
"Awwwn.🥺 Thank you.❤️"
"So, I assume you and Oliver attend the same school."
"Nah. But we live close."
"Soon, I'll be coming over to Lagos. Maybe we'd get too meet."
"That'll be great!😃"
Amara was such a nice girl.
Funny how I thought she and MoonBloom were sisters all because they were so physically alike and so were their names.
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I was so pissed at how the posts of her and the likes of her gained literally a thousand reactions but motivational me gained less than fifty. MoonBloom, that is.
I made my best post yet, through the inspiration of a mere pencil on my table. I was eager as a beaver to make this one post and impress my artist viewers or just anyone but…
｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━｡☆✼★
"Marks or writings made with a pencil
Becomes thicker, darker,
And more visible when it has been erased
The first time and re-written.
This proves that we become
Tougher and more equipped
When we make mistakes and
Learn from them; thus, bad experiences builds you even more."
｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━｡☆✼★
Facebook = 5👍 1💬
IG = 3❤️ 0💬
Whatsapp= 60👁️ 0💬
Joy=0.0000000000%
I had to discard the post as I was fond of doing each time I gained an unimpressive amount of audience, especially on WhatsApp.
I had learned to be positively inspiring about my online contents by my friends and teacher at school but somehow it wasn't working; no one was really interested in that. It was proven by the lesser amount of views, reactions, comments and shares.
It was depressing to find out that others around my social media walls earned more interactions than I ever did, even on less important things but I never did. What was the issue? Wasn't I good enough? Was being impactful lame?
As I gazed into my phone's screen, taking a journey into the cities of the virtual world, viewing those mere emotional signs placed on the posts of people, I was bothered about my worth.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
𝐉𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐑
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐰𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐨𝐟 "𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞" 𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐧—𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
𝑊𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑙, not exactly the "like" button.
𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 "𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞" 𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤. 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐇!!!ლ(ಠ_ಠ ლ)
𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥. 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐇!!!
ლ(ಠ_ಠ ლ)
It was pleasing to the eyes to find a post attached to a pretty attractive account owner and find thousands of reactions all in accordance—"heart" reactions precisely. I was drawn to the desire of the same thing.
Every of MB's posts had a Streak Of Hearts. I wondered how she was doing it! Did she actually ask people to react to her post that way or was she just simply loved by absolutely everyone and highly socially validated?
Every of Amanda's friend had the same SOH~~Streak Of Heart or SOSR~~Streak Of Same Reaction.
I couldn't tell how they attained those stuff on their posts but it seemed so desirable.
South Africans were so used to attaining the SOH and SOSR on their posts. Once, a girl made a post saying, "He was beaten to death because he spoke the truth." 𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠?
She earned a SOH anyway! 𝐋𝐨𝐥, 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭?
Amanda was used to 'thumbing' my posts and it was really annoying! I couldn't tell why it mattered to me but it did!
It wasn't just me. A lot of people did tons of crazy stuff just to attain this social validation.
It felt like even when I didn't want to care about the 𝑣𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑠, I was forced to.
It was like a force. Like-like demons!
𝐒𝐨 𝐧𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐬!
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
𝐉𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐑
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐬, 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝.
I myself was encouraged to look up a content with an impressive turn-up on interactions even if it was inconvenient but I misheeded the ones with lesser views and interactions.
¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶
Being 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐, I decided to make an analysis based on some posts I had come across on Facebook:
V=Views.
R=Reactions.
C=Comments.
S=Shares.
▒░░░░░░░░░░░▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░▒
𝐕 𝐑 𝐂 𝐒
34M 1M 196K 543K
44M 111K 3K 6K
11M 405K 6K 48K
1.4M 13K 115 266
55K 24K 327 318
5.7M 2968K 15K 82K
91M 11K 531 1K
5.9M 3K 106 252
25M 666K 20K 90K
14M 299K 5K 13K
18M 535K 3K 84K
666K 5K 359 428
19M 451K 16K 126K
16M 223K 8K 34K
▒░░░░░░░░░░░▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░▒
How thrilled I was when my contents gained a lot of views and interactions; it proved me to be relevent. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲? '𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲?
How completely drooped I was when my exciting contents were not exciting enough to get the attention of the audience. I didn't want these things to control my mood whenever I did things online but somehow, it did. I was perturbed.
¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶
"I'm just so pissed right now. How could he possibly make such decision knowing I absolutely detest that state due to my dire experiences!" Aisha nagged in I and Remi's hearings but we were too busy on our phones; I was scrolling through memes and he was doing whatever nerds do online.(⌐■_■)
"I really had a lot planned for this forthcoming public holiday—Netflix and chill," her face lit up with a smile then a frown, "now I'm forced to spend it in my nightmare. I'm pretty sure when I get there, I'd be unable to come online. It'd be off social media part two for me."
"Chill out. The public holiday is not until May and this is just February."
"Wow! So you eventually posted that picture I took of you. It already has thousands of likes," insensitively, Remi told her.
"Nice to see that you care about my predicament. Well, let me see."
I backed up on WhatsApp and went for Instagram to check out Aisha's million-dollar photo. Behold, it had four thousand likes pinned on it in just few days! Remi had taken that picture of her off guard.
Suddenly, a feeling of jealousy and intimidation intruded my state of well-being.
Just then, I communed with myself in my head; I had an idea!
In few days, when we were both wearing the right outfits in the right place, I implored Aisha to take a picture with me.
"I thought you don't like taking pictures with people." 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐧𝐨.
"Well, I do now."
In few minutes, she broke out, "okay, I am tired! I have switched ten postures and you've deleted twenty photos already!"
"It has to be perfect!"
"I'd be lying if I said I understand you today," sour-faced, she said and posed unintentionally while glaring at me. Leaning forward, I annoyingly got in her face, grinning at her.
Remi sighed, shook his head and took the shot off guard.
"Hmm. I guess pictures look nicer when they're taken unnoticeably."
"I look like an angry model." 𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮.
"I look fantastic!"
In no time, I uploaded the sheen photo to my Insta and Facebook.
Within a short period of time and for the first time in my virtual history, it hit a hundred reactions!
I was elated but at the same time, disappointed. This happened because of someone I was shining through, not because of me or my potentials. It made me even more sad.
In addition, a whole lot of comments were complimenting Aisha's perfection. I was unnoticed even though I literally was in her face, covering her face slightly.
"You are so beautiful!!! Your skin colour is enchanting and your height is just something else. Are you a model? If you are then you're already a star," a comment came in from a random person and I replied, "um, that's my friend. She's the one behind."
"Oh. Well, you look good as well." 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝?! 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝?!?!
"She's so beautiful!" 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨?!
"Wow. You must be really lucky to have a friend like this. If I did, I'd be showing her off all the time."
"Isn't that Aisha? The famous YouTuber that manages TTT? She's your friend? Wow!"
"Great height you got there!"
"Lol, you look like an angry mannequin. So adorable."
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐞?! 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐞?!?
Some people even went as far as comparing us both and to aggravate my bad mood, they moved on to talk about how fat I almost looked, compared to Aisha.
They said if I don't quit some meals and work out, I'd get even more fat.
The contention arose and I struck all of the commentators with words of fury. And after so many warnings, I got kicked out of Facebook.
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⚘𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙇𝙀𝙓𝙄𝘾𝙊𝙂𝙍𝘼𝙋𝙃𝙔⚘
*𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐂*
ΩThe quality of being excessively concerned about reactions.
ΩReaction-concious.
∆ Being 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐, I decided to make an analysis based on...
*𝐕𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐒*
ΩAcronym for Views, Reactions, Comment, Shares.
ΩSocial media interactions.
∆It felt like even when I didn't want to care about the 𝑣𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑠, I was forced to.
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