Amid the prominent censorship by tech giants Twitter, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon, the question occurred to me: Who will win the info wars? Will conservative voices and even independent voices be silenced on the web, or is there a path for us to succeed? What about to win against the tech giants! Wouldn’t that be encouraging for freedom-lovers the world over?
The story is widespread: Twitter took down Donald Trump’s account, and shortly afterwards Apple banned Parler from their App Store. Not only that, but Amazon has kicked Parler off of their web hosting service!
Now, for the purposes of this article, I am not interested in the politics of these tech giants’ actions. Rather, it occurred to me that the conclusion to all of this is going to be determined by Content Creators . . .. And I think that Facebook, Twitter, Apple, and Amazon are completely unaware of this. Why? Because they are confident of their culturally-pervasive political stances.
I have long said that book publishers have it wrong when they try to follow trends in the market, because great content creates trends. As it stands, most of them follow the trends in the hopes of launching books into categories that have already proven popular. Right now, Facebook is dominant in the social media sphere. Vastly dominant and there is no denying it! But that is because all of the interesting content is published there, and it is published by the everyday mom and Joe. So who holds the power of societal influence? Facebook, or everyday mom and Joe?
Imagine that your favorite TV shows move to an alternative social media platform. Say, like DailyWire.com Then you notice that the authors that you love to follow are on MeWe as well. A conservative-owned manufacturer of quality makeup moves to MeWe. Your favorite YouTube channel moves elsewhere due to censorship . . . Is it now so hard to see who is in control?
Content consumers, whether they are book readers, television viewers, or podcast listeners, are going to follow the content creators. This is is why, throughout history, writers have had enormous impact on societies. Such is the power of writers that they have been feared and outlawed, their works burned, and consequently their names growing in fame.
I believe that we writers are not dependent on which media platform is reaching the right people. Instead we are creatively building a following of like-minded individuals who are hungry for the content that we are producing. Money talks! and if we take our content elsewhere and the readers follow, then we are steering society instead of letting it drag us down. Why? Because YouTube, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram… all of them would not have this power without OUR content. If they become boring, why would people stay?
If they censor us, then they do it at their own peril. Because those of us who write do not do it for the money, we do it because we love it, because we are passionate for the power of the written word. If we are fearless, bringing out content to platforms that do not censor us, then the starving consumers will follow us . . . and who’s to say that big tech companies will find themselves replaced by different platforms that encourage Free Speech! After all, in America we have long enjoyed our freedoms and most of us are loathe to part with them. This is the power of capitalism to encourage the rise of something new to replace that which is authoritarian.
Personally I am tired of Facebook and Twitter censoring what I have to share. They don’t like my politics most of the time, and they do not like my pro-life stance, so they have messed with my posts quite a number of times. The bulk of my writing content will continue to live here on my website, where censors can’t touch me, but I do enjoy connecting with folks online through social media. So I recently adopted the Facebook alternative site MeWe and I am quite enjoying. It feels like FB did a decade ago, uncensored! Feel free to connect with me on there: mewe.com/i/scottappleton2
Q: Do you believe that writers are stuck with popular social media sites, or can they gather followers by leading the way to new and better content curation sites?
This is a timely, well-written article that reminds me there is hope. We don’t have to let the tech giants dictate what we say or read. There are alternatives, and I believe your correct – those who care about free speech will migrate to other options that support the rights and values we want to pass on to the next generations. We need to have the courage to change our habits and put our money where it supports what we believe.
Glad you agree 🙂 There’s an often misunderstood difference between content creation (ie., books, movies, etc.) and marketing those final products. If a social media platform alienates a segment of their followers, then said segment become a prime marketing opportunity for anyone creating products that appeal to that segment. They are a niche market, and niche markets are the strongest because they are the most loyal to that content. Other adopters are “fringe” and thus not as enthusiastic, or as regular in support of the niche products. They may be interested for a while but bounce around to check out other products that bear a resemblance but don’t hold to the same values. A thousand loyal followers eagerly feasting on fantasy books written from a conservative Christian worldview, for example, is far more effective than ten thousand mildly interested fans of fantasy in general.