In response to: https://medium.com/self-directed-practitioners/week-6-social-media-and-your-career-21ec52b2b003
This blog will be reflecting upon the importance of social media in a successful creative career. Social media is very important to artists due to it’s ability to keep an artists relevant, give them an easy way of interacting and sharing their art with fans and also a way of advertising their art to a large audience. However, social media can also come with many negative outcomes that can severely demoralise artists impacting their work and or reputation.
Recently I posted my first artwork ever to social media and it was nerve racking. However what little comments I got were nice and made me feel great and made me want to instantly make more work and upload it. This however, can be a downside for the future. I feel like having this mindset means that when I inevitably get given negative criticism or just a toxic comment it will stick with me and destroy my creative motivation. Posting my work on social media has given me a way of potentially drawing an audience who not only give me a moral boost but can also be potential customers and employers that wouldn’t have been able to find me without social media.
There are many examples of professional artists using social media to boost there artwork. There are surprisingly enough very few known artists that don’t use social media because it is integral to maintaining a successful career in the creative industry. One professional example can be seen in “The Character Art Podcast #6” on Youtube. Within the first minute they state that they have mostly only spoken to each other on social media and that is how these industry professionals stay connected. – (Nickel, Lazar, Goulden & Jones, 2016). Another example comes in the form of “Kylie Jenner” the popular Instagram model along with other things who uses her Instagram fame to promote her own makeup company “Kylie Cosmetics” and is now inline to become the world’s first self made billionaire. Ultimately their fortunes all derive from the same place. “Social media is an amazing platform,” Jenner says. “I have such easy access to my fans and my customers.” – (Robehmed, 2018). This just goes to show how significant social media can be in shaping ones fortune and getting in touch with other industry workers.
Overall it is clear to see how important social media is in gaining an audience, staying relevant in the art world, boosting your art and potentially introducing you to other industry professionals. However, it is important to maintain a respectful mannerism to avoid possible damage to your reputation which can have detrimental fallout to your career as seen by Phil Fish in the original article.
Bibliography:
Qantm, S. (2015). Week 3: Social Media and Your Career – Self-Directed Practitioners – Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/self-directed-practitioners/week-6-social-media-and-your-career-21ec52b2b003
Nickel, J., Lazar, L., Goulden, G., & Jones, J. (2016). The Character Art Podcast #6: Bobo The Seal. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuQ2H_A6J1Y
Robehmed, N. (2018). How 20-Year-Old Kylie Jenner Built A $900 Million Fortune In Less Than 3 Years. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesdigitalcovers/2018/07/11/how-20-year-old-kylie-jenner-built-a-900-million-fortune-in-less-than-3-years/
Lindle, L. (2018). Free webinar: Building Local Communities with Social Media. Retrieved from https://www.districtdispatch.org/2018/02/free-webinar-building-local-communities-social-media/
(2018). Nervous Key and Peele GIF. Retrieved from https://giphy.com/gifs/reactiongifs-LRVnPYqM8DLag
Forbes. (2018). America’s Women Billionaires. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesdigitalcovers/2018/07/11/how-20-year-old-kylie-jenner-built-a-900-million-fortune-in-less-than-3-years/
Spencer Gibson's Art 