This one is for the content creators, streamers, and others who enjoy positions of power in this era of parasocial relationships and fandoms across the many platforms that exist.
It’s a common thing to say, as a show of humility, that if we were to get famous, we would still be the same person that our followers on whatever platforms have come to know and love. “We’re just humans and people shouldn’t put me on a pedestal”, we think.
To be sure, you’re right. They shouldn’t. We shouldn’t. At one point, that was where the thought ended for me, but these days are a bit different.
The largest reason? Seeing the way people with large followings abdicate responsibility for what their followers do when they make a statement or move in this way or that. I know we want to be human as creators and not to be on these pedestals, but also important is to realize that not being intentional in how we use the power we have as a person other people will listen to is reckless and dangerous for everyone involved because at some point it will be misused.
Does having 20K followers translate into immediate cash? Nope. Does it translate into instant deals and sponsorships? Nope. But what it does mean is that in many cases, you’re going to be asked “Who should I be listening to, paying attention to, like, or hate” and your answers become law for the people under your influence.
Let’s sit with that for a second.
Many of us in this landscape think that if it doesn’t generate money, then it isn’t real or important. Meanwhile, in your area of influence, you can drop a note and someone gets $20K toward a cause. You can retweet a post and someone’s kickstarter is damn-near instantly funded. You can go “hey, I really appreciate this person” and they get hundreds of followers or eyes on their projects.
We don’t have to think too hard about the times that someone says a single negative thing whether openly or behind closed doors and suddenly either opportunities or whole accounts disappear.
Whether we like it or not, if we put ourselves out there as people who are trying to get people to watch our videos and streams, buy our games and books and merch, etc, then we have to also understand that we also bear the responsibility that comes with that. For example, telling those same people that they can’t be racist, LGBTQIA+ phobic, ableist, sexist, and misogynist (among other things). That means thinking about what we say to others in public and behind the scenes and accepting the consequences of doing (or not doing) things.
And yes, that is tiresome and frustrating and many other things – many of which happen behind the scenes – but on the other end of that is that this is the part of parasocial relationships that benefit us and again, we have to manage that. That’s our work and if we and we have to accept that we have influence and power and move as people who are aware of that fact.