I Tried Social Media. I Didn’t Like It.
I’m okay with that
I’ve tried all of them.
Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. LinkedIn. TikTok. Threads. Mastodon. Bluesky. Substack Notes.
I made accounts, posted stuff, tried to build a habit, tried to care about the numbers. Tried to be on schedule.
It’s not for me. I didn’t grow up with social media, so maybe that’s part of it.
But I don’t think that’s the whole reason.
I’m just not that guy.
The pattern
It always goes the same way. I bet many of you can relate.
I discover a platform, or a platform discovers me. I sign up. I post a few things. Maybe I even enjoy it for a week. I think: okay, this could work. This one feels different.
Then a week passes. Then two. Three. Then I realize I haven’t opened the app since that last post. I forgot. Didn’t feel like it. Don’t care.
That’s the pattern. Every time. I post a bit, then nothing.
The ones I tried hardest with
Twitter was probably my longest attempt.
Posted here and there. Sometimes a lot, even consistently. Then nothing, again. Never got into the rhythm of quick takes and threads and replies. Feels like performing. I’m not great at performing.
LinkedIn I could never get into. Not even close. The tone is wrong for me. Everything reads like a press release with a motivational ending. I tried posting there a few times. Yikes. Nope.
Instagram I understood even less. My life is code, writing, and a desk. Not Instagram life. I still use it for personal connections though. I don’t post.
TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts. Short video in general. I watched a lot. Never made one. Video isn’t for me.
Substack Notes was supposed to be the one. A text-based social feed for writers. Substackers. My people. My format. I posted for a bit. Then I didn’t.
I am just not a short post guy.
It bugged me early on
For a long time, this bothered me.
Social media is essential for creators, right?
You need an audience. You need engagement. You need to show up daily. The algorithm rewards consistency.
I know. I’ve written about all of this. I know how the game works. I just don’t play it (anymore).
What changed
I stopped caring.
Not about growing. Not about reaching people. I stopped caring about the specific channel. Social media is a channel. It’s not the only one. And it’s not mine.
My channels are Medium and Substack.
That’s where I publish. That’s where people find me. That’s where the writing lives. Medium brings in readers through search and the algorithm. Substack brings in subscribers through recommendations and email. Both are long-form.
I wrote about my $0 marketing stack in more detail.
I also have a blog that gets organic search traffic. That’s three platforms where I actually show up.
Enough for me.
What I actually do
I write articles.
I publish them on Medium and Substack. Sometimes I cross-post to my blog with an SEO angle. I have social accounts, technically. I auto-post threads to Bluesky now. I want to like Bluesky. I always try new things. But I don’t have much hope, to be honest.
Maybe that limits my reach. Probably.
But the reach I do have comes from articles that people search for or subscribe to. That’s pretty cool.
Downsides
I’m probably invisible to a lot of people who only discover creators through social media.
That’s a real cost.
I also miss out on the community aspect. Writers on Twitter and Substack Notes build relationships through quick interactions. I’m not a huge part of that. I’m the guy who publishes and disappears. Mostly. Although I do read comments and answer as much as I can.
Then there’s the SEO angle. Social signals don’t directly impact search rankings too much, but they drive traffic, which drives engagement, which does matter. I’m leaving some of that on the table.
These are trade-offs. I’m aware of them. I just don’t care enough to change.
The Bottom Line
Social media is a tool. A good one for many people. It’s just not a tool I use well.
I tried. Repeatedly. With different platforms, different formats, different intentions. I will again.
But the results are always the same: a few posts, then silence. It doesn’t fit how I work I guess.
Medium, Substack, and my blog. That’s the stack. That’s where I put my energy. Everything else is a nice-to-have that I don’t actually have.
And… I’m fine with that now.