Monday Motivation: Are You Addicted to Likes & Follows?

Monday Motivation, Inspiration for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners, Small Businesses

Back in 1979 I received two prestigious awards, “Most Likely to Be Everyone’s Friend” and “Ms. Happy-Go-Lucky.” I was in 9^th grade and of course the awards were important to my 15-year-old esteem who hoped as she matured, the meaning of the awards stayed true.

These accolades where decades before Facebook was created with friends, likes, and follow features to make grown adults validate themselves based on the figures. No different from Jr. High School, it felt important, and still does in a way, to be liked on social media, as if our own self-vision doesn’t count.

As a woman entrepreneur, I was thrilled in 2004 that Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media marketing apps gave me a platform to find new and old friends, clients, and colleagues especially since I was in the realm of match-making female business owners with each other through New York State. Without these online tools, it wouldn’t be as easy to connect women in Rochester with females in Saratoga so they could open up their marketplace and connections to do business together. I remain grateful for the connectiveness these tools allow.

But there has come a point for many of us aging, female business owners who don’t want our value – whether personal or corporate – to depend on how many friends or connections we have to make our day or feel our news is still worth sharing. “Social Media Timeouts” are increasing in my newsfeeds as I electronically say good-bye to the intimacy that personal posts and shares provide regularly.

I miss seeing some of my friends who used to share photos of grandchildren, athletic achievements, health updates, business achievements, and more because they are more private again. Time will tell if the timeouts were worth it for them or if they resurface after missing the social action.

How do you feel about this topic? Are you addicted to visibly seeing clicks, likes and friends or are you content enough not to judge yourself based on your social media marketing results? In the end is our popularity worth knowing?

I would not have known I was everyone’s friend or considered happy-go-lucky if it wasn’t for other people tallying up votes and letting me know. It was a positive thing to find out which has stood with me all this time. Maybe seeing how many people like and follow us on social media is just another way to feel good as long as we remember we always have our self-worth to do that for us.