If You Want to Be a Creator, Delete All (But Two) Social Media Platforms

Pixel art, woman, NetWorker, social — @Deleted User (fast). Image created on Midjourney.

In October 2022, during the whole Elon Musk debacle, I finally deleted Twitter from my phone. Around the same time, I also logged out of Instagram and Facebook. I had wanted to remove these distractions from my life for a while, and thanks to Elon’s shenanigans, I got the push to do so.

Six months later, I realized something that runs in direct opposition to almost every single piece of creator advice out there: I don’t miss having social profiles.

I’m not surprised that I don’t miss them from a personal perspective. It’s conventional wisdom nowadays: social media =/= connections. Without Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and so on, I have more time, more energy, and deeper connections with my actual friends. I read more. I write in my novel more.

But I also don’t miss them from a professional perspective. I’m not missing out on business opportunities. I’m not missing out on communicating with my readers.

I’m not missing out at all, as far as I can tell.

That realization inspired me to write this article. Today, the prevailing advice is to create a profile absolutely everywhere and post nonstop until you get traction. But in my experience, that’s bad advice. Here’s why.

1. The people giving you that advice are gurus who want to bring you to their platform, because that’s how they make money.
2. (Most) platforms take time and don’t give you anything back.
3. It’s easy to get caught up in the hype. Pay attention to your own desires and skills before investing.

Let’s break it down.

Gurus want to bring you to their platform — that’s how they make money.

Two years ago, I created a Pinterest account. Why? Because a likeable Pinterest influencer (McKinzie from Moms Make Cents) persuaded me that that’s where all the money and views were:

“Pinterest is my FAVORITE way to direct more traffic to your website…and that means more page views, sales and $! Through this course I want you to refine your Pinterest strategy and give you the start you need to grow your business!”