What you don't know about going viral

If you post publicly to social media then chances are that you're hoping to go viral. I never thought that it would happen to me, I just thought that it was one of those things that only happened to people who already had 1 million followers... but we all now know that that is not the case!

We all want to go viral right? Think again...

"Small minds have always lashed out at what they don't understand" - Dan Brown

This quote might sound a bit harsh but I can't help but think that the angry comments I get about paint (yes, I really do get a lot of angry comments about paint) must be because people simply don't understand.

For instance I get near death threats about what I've painted and the paint not lasting - I say "near death threats" as they don't actually tell me that they want to break my neck or that they want to set fire to my house. They just like to imagine it happening or just "want to commit arson" as one charming lady told me.

Tile paint and the paint on my stairs is a particular trigger. People just don't realise that there is such a thing as paint designed to paint directly onto tiles or onto stairs without the need of priming. That's it. That's why I get my near death threats. Bizarre isn't it?!

That's the problem with going viral, you're content is pushed out to people who wouldn't normally see it and therefore don't necessarily have an interest in your genre. Therefore some of these new people don't actually know anything about the topic at hand when they decide to insult you and your work.

Obviously the examples I've shared are the extreme, but the norm isn't much better!

Abuse

It's simple. Abuse is rife on social media, even if all you do is share videos of you painting things - believe me!

Of course I get lots of negative comments from people who simply don't like my home or a colour I've chosen. Sure, that's fine and they're allowed their opinion and in no way did I think that 100% of people would like it. It's just a shame that they feel the need to take time out of their day to tell me so when I've worked so hard on something I love. I think that the fact that they feel the need to pause and be critical rather than just scrolling on says more about them than me.

Misogyny

Then there's the misogyny. Yep, it's out there, it's vocal and it isn't monitored. I've used the reporting tools many a time to report harassment, abuse, violent comments and insults based on my gender (and often the fact that I'm white and married). Then I'm told that there's no violation.

This is a huge problem, particularly for female DIY accounts. Unfortunately there are a lot of men, and sometimes women, who insult women because they are women doing DIY. These people tend to go down the mocking route. Laughing and telling women that they're stupid fools who don't know what they're doing because they're women.

Most of the time, however, these comments are from men telling the DIYer that everything they did was wrong or it won't last. They may not always say "because you're a woman" but the aggressive and condescending tone is there, it's in their choice of words. You see, there is a difference between offering advice and aggressively telling someone that they shouldn't do what they're doing because it's wrong and only they know the right way to do something. You could argue that these people aren't misogynists though. Either way, they're still abusive and aggressive.

It always amazes me how they know things about my own house and projects that I don't based off a 15 second video - oh no wait, that's not possible!

"Karens"

This is a bit of an unfortunate term for anyone actually called Karen! You may not have heard or come across them. If that's the case then lucky you!

They are worse than everything else that I have mentioned in this blog post. The reason being that they are self-righteous and reprimand you for being an awful human being. They really try everything that they can say to make you feel like you are the scum of the earth.

Again, all I do is paint things and generally ignore people who are rude and abusive towards me. Occasionally I'll politely defend myself by explaining whatever their complaint is.

Then the "Karens" come in to tell me how awful and rude I am for being too sensitive and not being able to take "other people's opinions" - that's what they say about comments that I would describe as condescending & abusive rather than an opinion or advice.

They usually end with "if you can't take it then don't post it" or something to that effect. The idea being that you shouldn't post anything if you can't roll over and accept abuse from thousands of strangers.

That seems to be the favourite reasoning for allowing and justifying abuse on the internet. They seem to think that it's the fault of the victim of the abuse for not being able to "take it". Strange isn't it?

What confuses me more is that these self-righteous Karens choose to reprimand me for politely pointing out that it's just paint rather than reprimanding the people aggressively telling me that I'm a bitch who doesn't know what she's doing - hence why I try and ignore them as whatever I say, no matter how polite will result in more abuse. I think that they like the reaction.

I guess that's the thing, these people are, quite frankly, ill. They don't understand and they are not well enough to process information in the way that you or I would. So they lash out. And I'm the easy target because I put myself out there - painting things.

The Good

Having said all of that, there are good things about going viral.

There are far more positive comments and people asking questions because they like what you've done and are thinking about doing it themselves.

There's the fast growth - although I did find this a bit overwhelming and I felt like I didn't really know any of the people following me, hence why I prefer a more gradual growth.

The opportunities. With a large following and high views comes well paid work with brands you love. I owe a lot to going viral on TikTok, Instagram and Pinterest.

Overall, going viral is fun, exciting and pays well.

Just remember that the social media companies aren't going to make any meaningful changes to their platforms anytime soon, if at all. They make money from people staying on the app and people are more likely to stay on the app if they have a strong emotional pull - say for instance, having an ongoing argument in the comments section.