That Sinking Feeling
Observations On Sharing Our Vocal Stories On Social Media
Introduction
This is a problem we all have and I am not sure what the answer is because however we address it, events and social media posts fall away into the past, often to be forgotten.
When we post something, although it is permanently on the digital platform, other posts then supersede it, so it effectively disappears.
Is There Anything We Can Do?
Pinning is available on a lot of Social Media and Vocal allows us to pin three stories that we see as important, or we want to be read, though that can only work if others visit our profile. Latest stories, our subscriptions and notifications are just an ever-changing stream, with no permanence, although permanence and change are obviously at odds with each other.
On Facebook, Groups can have a Featured Stripe and we use that in the Vocal Social Society where we create threads, and stories posted on the threads effectively are part of something that is permanently at the top of the feed. We have threads for Poetry, Challenge Entries (Official and Unofficial), Unofficial Challenges, Old New Borrowed and Blue, Fiction Friday, Microfiction Wednesday and to highlight Creators, The Dynamic Duo and Community Adventure.
Things that don't fit are dropped into the normal feed, but the threads keep the normal feed less congested although many still drop poems and challenge entries there, but they soon drop out of sight.
While threads are not perfect, they can be used for categorising story types so it is easy to find what you are looking for. If everything goes into the main feed it eventually just becomes a messy mass and there are not many options for filtering.
Conclusion
I am not sure what the answer is, and people still can find stories using Vocal's excellent search facility, but it is a fact of life that once a story is published after a day or so it is considered done. I suppose it is a bit like a daily newspaper.
Thank you for reading and I would love to hear your ideas and opinions.
The music is "Sink or Swim" by One Direction, and we are swimming.
About the Creator
Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred
A Weaver of Tales and Poetry
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Comments (8)
Yes, I agree that threads keep things less messy
I utilise this platform as a form of expression sporadically and I always thrilled if someone responds immediately- deeply thrilled and humbled that someone has taken time out of their day to respond to my thoughts and art. And when someone responds months after I have posted to one of my pieces - I am flabbergasted and thrilled to an entirely new degree. It is one of life’s deep pleasures ✨
Ah, this is fair. I do wish there was an option to maybe re-publish or share here on Vocal after a certain amount of time. I definitely have some old pieces I would love for people to discover.
Interesting points Mike and thanks for sharing. I have a Vocal wishlist that I will get around to putting together as a story at some point.
It is self-advertising we must do. Some creators are wonderful at this while others (Yep ..me) are less inclined to do so. But must we should. Mike you have always brought items like this to the forefront, and I hope you continue to due so in the future.
Despite efforts like pinning and categorizing, the constant flow of new content on social media makes it difficult for posts to maintain lasting visibility.
Great review on the never ending problem. I agree with you. It's so hard to keep up and getting our stories to the forefront. All we can do is what we can do.
I generally feel like I'm sinking, but that's on par with my life too. Great article