i have unfollowed/unfriended (mayroon bang ganun?) twitter/fb acquaintances when i get turned off by blatant self-promotion. some of them are just full of uploaded pics (and sometimes videos) of themselves in various stages of dress and undress. just too much. others retweet the nice comments they receive every time. kailangan talagang malamam ko through your retweet that you are appreciated?
so one time, this came up in a fabcast. they were wondering about this common friend, a blogger. i remarked, hay naku. i unfollowed him because of shameless self promotion, i remarked. mgg quickly retorted. parang ikaw lang.
immediate reaction - felt my face growing super red. anger. hoy! how dare you, i thought to myself. ako pa? anonymous na nga ang blog ko! but i kept that to myself. and was just laughing as i mentally reviewed my online personas. my fb profiles? hmm well aside from the dp, my pics are not just me. more often, landscapes, other people. di naman lagi ako, ha?
days after, i am still bothered. and offended. then i realize that the perspective of another person will not always be the same as mine. and as far as he is concerned, i am as self-promoting as those that i actually detest (nah, not really detest. too strong. i look down upon) and it is true. if i had no career to consider, no 'image' to think about, id be using the online medium to super-promote myself and get affirmation. and i actually do. inserting a picture here and there in my different accounts to get noticed.
and i realize that that is the reason why i react to them who self-promote. i am just like them. with less balls.
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
6 comments:
They say every joke has a grain of truth. True, it may be that you engage in self-promotion, but so does Migs, Gibbs and I! We just don't go as far as uploading pics and videos of ourselves in various stages of undress. (Hindi na yun self-promotion; it's more of shooting ourselves in the foot, hahaha!) Nor do we retweet the nice comments we receive.
I think Migs was just poking fun at the one thing you and those Twitter/FB acquaintances of yours have in common: torso pics.
But so what? You, CC, offer more than just shameless self-promotion. You also give sound advice, share valuable insights and learnings to your readers/raiders. What's funny with the people you've infriended is that it LOOKS like they spend waaaay too much time and effort on themselves.
Relax, dear. Don't be too hard on yourself. Always look at the big picture. =)
Wow, I must say, this is one of the most honest self-criticism I've heard you say CC.
I suppose it's all about the idea of this is my space so I can write / say / show whatever I want. Still, it does tell something about who we are and how we perceive ourselves.
They say self-promotion comes naturally to all of us. The question is: how much is too much?
Kane
kumbaga, ang magnanakaw ay galit sa kapwa magnanakaw, ganon?
Anything that irritates us potentially gives us a better understanding of ourselves ei? :)
Personally; would rather experience negative emption than none at all; sets up the happy bits of life haha
What's wrong with self-promotion? If you've got it, flaunt it. Take it or leave it.
Take me for what I am
I'm who I was meant to be
And if you give a damn
Take me, baby, or leave me!
-from Rent
Nothing wrong with writing and posting what you want as long as you do it because you want to share it. It IS, after all, your blog. But the moment you do something in order to please your readers/raiders, then that becomes sad because you're only doing it to get attention. If you're that insecure that you need affirmation from total strangers.... you get the point.
Post a Comment