To have started posting on social media?

[amimakingafannyofmyself]

i know there’s a lot of opinions on “influencers” on here so I just want to clarify that I’m not posting anything like that, just my opinions on sports etc.

I see a lot of women my age being offered incredible opportunities after building a community doing this sort of thing - free tickets, free trips, etc etc. so I figured why not, I’ve got a lot of spare time and can put some effort into it.

My family are all pretty embarrassed by me. They seem to think it reflects badly on them and that if anyone finds out I’ll regret it. They’re all begging me to take the videos down and close down my page.

AIBU to do it?

I content create around a particular area of sports and gaming, I’m one of only 4 females from around the world who have made it into the ‘inner circle’ and liase with publishers and businesses for it. It took 5 years to get to this stage, it’s not easy and takes a lot of trial and error. I have 14k followers on one platform, just started getting PR packages last year

People are making a lot of money from doing this. Give it a go

Oh and be prepared for a lot of insecure men giving you hate, I’m lucky I have a mostly male following who will come for the ones giving me abuse 😄

Why would you be “mortified”? Isn’t that a rather extreme reaction?

@Mhhk and @Idontspeakgermansorry can you explain why "attention seeking" is a negative thing in your minds?

OP, just go for it and don't take any notice of your family. I have never had a personal IG account. I had a small one for my business. I spent years feeling embarassed and uncomfortable posting anything with my face. I don't even have anything on my FB and just use it to follow groups.
That changed last year. I was having some therapy and one of the topics we got onto was internalising someone else's beliefs and rules and how this impacted on my relationships with others and myself. That very day I posted something personal on IG. It was just a small clip from a hobby I was doing. It's, honestly, so liberating.. Yes, my mum made a comment about it being "vulgar". The world, surprisingly didn't fall apart.
If you enjoy it - do it. If your family are embarrassed by it, they don't have to engage with it.

It just means very embarrassed. Why would that be an extreme reaction? People get embarrassed for loads of things.

Maybe this will help you understand: here you are on MN among thousands of users (myself included) who think that their opinion is so important that everyone must hear it. The only difference is that you remain anonymous and someone else is brave enough to put themselves out there.

The more I see of what you want to do, OP, the more convinced I am you should go for it. You are just doing it as a bit of fun and it will also help build communication skills, which is always helpful. Your family sound like buzzkills,to be honest.

I'd say go for it, but have an idea what you are trying to put across and what your proposition is, eg 'Mum who loves this sport/team', 'Cookery and sport' or whatever. You'll have to post a lot, as I think you know. Also bear in mind if on tiktok that apparently the algorithm (though this may just be in America) is increasingly making demands of creators. American creators are being told by tiktok that for maximum reach they should have a 'proper' background and lighting and be filmed from a stand, or else the algorithm will suppress their views.

I don’t want to post all that self conceited “look what I look like” shit because im ugly 😂 but I just want to back myself a little

This!
Remember it will be strangers on insta etc that give you the most support not your friends and family.
Nothing wrong with a side hustle, good luck.

You miss 100% of the chances you don’t take. Go for it, good luck

This is very true!

I'm sure you're not ugly, but while you should probably expect some ridiculous hate from dimwit trolls, I don't see why what you propose should come across as conceited or designed to show your looks. You'll just be sitting there talking about sports. I've seen loads of videos where women are talking about art or history or philosophy and there's absolutely nothing to suggest they're making a thing about their looks. Obviously they've groomed for the camera, but it's not them modelling, it's them speaking.

Just have a bit of fun with it OP and don't tell your family. I got DS to do a few vids about his EPQ as something to say he'd done on his CV and show he could present. He had a mike as we already had one - although i expect you can get them pretty cheap - but no lighting. He did 5 vids i think and had positive comments and 2k views on some, hardly huge numbers but not embarrassingly low.

If it doesn't work out then you've had a bit of fun and who cares. It's always nice to have a new little project IMO.

I always get my own stuff on my FYP, it’s because tik tok have a feature where you can pay to promote your video, when you spot your own video on your own FYP, it’s not the same as someone’s else’s, it can be missed but there’s a link at the bottom to tell it’s an example of how your stuff will look if you use promote assist. They’re trying to get you to pay for the promote assist for views, likes and followers.

Im not saying that to shit on your enthusiasm, i think you should ignore your family and go for it. So fuck if anyone finds it cringe. It sounds like you’re not hurting anyone. My only advice would be to keep in mind that if you build a following based on trust and like minded people, it takes time and a lot of people will immediately unfollow if you start peddling tik tok shop or it becomes obvious you’re chasing followers.

I recently started posting myself last year after taking two years to get the courage to do so. I’ve used tik tok for about 6 years and the people who tend to be chasing freebies seem very shallow and see other people chasing freebies as competition and/or rungs in a ladder to climb on for more freebies and they put value in likes and views and algorithms. Followers are an income source to even small accounts and it shows. But then I know some women personally who are like me and post to gain self confidence and connect with people who share the interest and just have fun.

If it makes you happy then do it, don’t let anyone else make you feel bad it’s your life and your choice

Another thing op, you can filter out comments with keywords so you don’t even need to see them. I had words like “fat” “ugly” just to preempt it. Also, if I see anyone being a bully in the comments of people I follow I block the commenter.

Go for it OP and good luck. I bet your family wouldnt be embarrassed if you shared your views by writing a book or secured a column in a newspaper. This is just a different platform to talk about things that interest you and see if other people are interested in hearing them.

I find it quite unpleasant the way people are judged for using social media to express their opinions. This is literally what it was designed for. Its always very striking that this criticism is overwhelmingly directed at women too.

The use of the phrase “attention seeking” is very telling too. What is inherently wrong with seeking attention on a platform which is designed to encourage people to engage with you. No one is forced to engage with it and if you find it annoying or boring then you can scroll on.

OP: I am not remotely interested in sports but you are. You know something about it and you have strong opinions. If you feel you can express yourself in a coherent and engaging way crack on and don’t waste time worrying about what others think. You can’t please everyone and haters gonna hate. Do your thing.

It's just odd and comes across as attention-seeking.

Respectfully, so what!? I'm getting so sick of this idea that we should all make ourselves smaller just to avoid upsetting/annoying other people. It's bullshit.

OP - Put what you want on your page. If people don't like it, they can scroll on/unfollow. But I'd like to think family would be supportive.

Ring lights reflected in the presenter's glasses, eyes or surfaces is what looks cringe to me. Big mics or big covers (foam balls for example) that obscure part of their face are in the same category.

Just my opinion. I'm not going to hide that and make myself smaller to avoid upsetting people. Especially, when they asked for the opinions in the first place.

Definitely go for it! I did something similar (not Sport) and it took off and it’s been an amazing and life changing experience. Using your phone is absolutely fine. Yes get an external mic for good audio. Edit using InShot or CapCut and add captions. You could also cross post to a business page on Facebook and post the same content on TikTok. If you don’t try you’ll never know!

I appreciate all opinions! I think some of it is a generational difference