Social Media, does it still exist?

Where do I begin, Since my last blog on the "Exodus of streamers" alot has changed with how people access social media. As a Content Creator we want to make top dollar for what we do, being a content creator is very much like running a small business that we are not business avy since most of probably did not go to college to master in the art of business or taking a class on navigating through the world of social media to make sure your product or idea stands out.

I have been in the content creating business for six years now which I got my start right before the pandemic hit even though no one in my family knew that I could earn some money with this adventure. I have witnessed some slow growth, tremendous viewership, gained a lot of friends, made some enemys, and those that want to take advantage of someone like myself. Shows that I have have created was "Sports Talk Stream", "Cooking with Bigtexgaming", "Tex Talks", "Liberty Church Online" at which I am proud to turn a stream more than just playing video games, but a lifestyle where I was able to showcases my gifts, talents, and be my own boss.

What inspires you to create content? Where do you get your inspiration from? I will say that in todays culture you need to keep expandidng your horizon with the use of different medians when it comes to producing stuff people want to come back to. During covid many churches did not know how to navigate through social media to get there church to go live even for there congregation when at times the local community could not meet. Many relied on the nextgen to help the church through this journey. Some thought all they have to do is stream them playing video games and they will be the next big thing, well it takes more than just streaming from your console or pc game to get your name out there. I was very thankful to be apart of a large facebook community that believed in me to use my gifts and talents towards something that I can call my own. What inspired me to create my awesome content is people telling me that they do not think it could work out. I had to prove to them and myself that I could do this. My inspiration comes from those who were told that this will never work like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Thomas Eddison to name a few.

Social Media landscape is changing almost daily, Facebook for example decided that they wanted to play in the gaming and streaming industry, so they made something that could compete with Twitch. Mixer part of microsoft wanted to be in the streaming and gaming to get that almighty dollar, however it was too much for mixer to compete with Twitch, so facebook bought them out and transfered there community to immediate partnership then facebook shut down mixer. Facebook thinking they could compete with twitch with all its members, but that was not enough to take down twitch. In the meantime other apps started popping up with different like Tik Tok that gave us the opportunitie to create short videos to go viral.

Once Tik Tok made its presenece know facebook wanted to mimick that on there app, they decided to put the facebook gaming engine

ers to create a version for there platform, Reels was created. I spoke to a facebook worker who told me that

"Facebook is moving so fast, that one day you are working on project A then the next day you switch gears to work on Project B" Annymous

Social media is an ever changing landscape, because if you are not following the new trends or path, then you could be left behind. There are so many ways you can stream your games or IRL to so many platforms. I myself have many communities on Facebook, Younow, KICK, trovo, twitch, Youtube, Twitter, Tik Tok, Instagram to name a few. My greatest fear is leaving my family behind which is my community members. I have been mutli-streaming for over 5 years and I want my community be able to find me

I have been doing a lot of reflecting this past year which made me think what my next stage in life is going to be. I am thankful for the followers and supporters that I have gained through the years of streaming. Post Pandemic has changed a lot of our habits as most of us are not staying in doors on the computer like we have in the years of the pre-pandamic which things surged. Companies had to hire more people to handle all the traffic, gaming and computer parts.

So what happened to the red hot social media that has lasted for almost 20 years, now you have more bots on facebook and scammers than ever before. There are tons of influencers trying to be the next big trend. KIck has sent a message to Twitch that we are tired of being treated like crap and below minum wage after they take half the money. Twitch does stop caring about its creators all together. Platforms like YouNow, KIck, and Trovo have been more focused on the community needs.

We may not be streaming our games like we used to, but we are being real with our communities and using these platforms to give ourselves a voice in a wrecked social media economy