What does being popular mean? · 6:33pm Apr 5th, 2021
In this blog, I reflect on what it means to be "popular" the good and the bad. But let me put a little disclaimer here. I'm not popular. And I don't want you all to think I am. At the end of the day, I'm just a pony. And I don't need to have ponies worshipping at my hooves thinking I know anything about anything. Honestly, I probably consider myself underrated. Hard to believe, but it's how I feel. Anyways, let's dive in.
Popularity: "What does it mean?"
Google defines it as the state or condition of being liked, admired, or supported by many people.
"he was forced to step down as mayor despite his popularity with the voters"
BUT is this true of Fimfiction? Maybe...
Let's try to address the first issue.
The follower count: Followers don't matter.
I love my followers, everyone who supports me means the world to me, but when it comes to being popular, the follower count is one of the least functional things to use to identity who is Popular. A lot of ponies would tell you authoers like Pen Stroke,, Shortskirtsandexplosions and ROBcakeran are quite famous.
I might agree, they have a lot of reputation on the site, but I couldn't tell you a single thing about them outside of what they are famous for.
I know a lot of ponies have approached me thinking I'm popular because I have a lot of followers.
This isn't true.
At least not in my mind. If you think I'm popular, who am I to dissay you?
If that's your opinion you are welcome to have it.
Anyways.
Popularity in my mind is a bad thing. I remember back in school, I was a nerd. Like I got an award for how nerdy I was and being absorbed into books and reading. People in school would fight over who was best at whatever category was important. Like for example
"Most likely to succeed"
I feel this is a bad mindset, you are setting labels on kids that are growing into maturity and it could produce ego's and self-absorb nature and thinking you are above others.
A lot of authors often feel like they are underwhelmed, unloved, and not appreciated. Often, even the more popular authors struggle with this.
So then why do we try to be popular?
Wanting attention isn't entirely bad, but it can also be self-demotivating when you don't get the attention you feel you deserve.
And I just want ponies to understand that it's okay to not be popular. It's okay for a story to not do as well as you might expect. Because at the end of the day, you should be proud of what you write, even if others disagree.
Popularity is overrated.
I've pretty much made a "name" for myself on Fimfiction through interviewing other author's, but I never wanted the attention on me. I never wanted to be popular. I just want to tell good stories, and I want ponies to understand the messages within. Because at the end of day, there's no difference f from me and you. I'm just a pony, trying to write good words.
So I guess this feels "rambly" but it's been on my mind a lot lately. I feel like there's another part of me, a more selfish part, that wants more, but yet I've come so far from where I started, and I like to reflect on my experiences. Not everyone will have the same kind of experience but it's about the journey not the destination.
Feel free to comment below. I'm interested to hear your opinion. And espicially if you fit into the "category" if you will of authors that feel like they want more. Is it selfish? Or is there some underlying issue?
A lot of author's suffer from depression but why?
Isn't writing the thing that's supposed to help? Isn't writing a cure? I have so many questions, and I can't possibly answer them all. All I know is that I need to try. I can't stop writing for if I did, I'd lose myself.
I'm a writer.
Who are you?
Hey! This was a fantastic read. I agree with your points on "popularity" and while it might be cool and fun to be "popular" (i mean who doesn't want to know people enjoy what they're putting out there?), in my opinion it's more important for people to like me and know me. After all, art is an extension of the creator, right?
I have to admit, I enjoy it when my stories do well, or when my art gets attention. I'm only human, after all. But what I love the most is seeing how what I made affected someone. I love getting a bunch of notifications, but the best thing is when someone leaves a comment, or sends a message to talk to me. Otherwise, I'm just another rando on the internet posting stories and art. I'm not just a creator, I'm a person with feelings that inspire what I make.
My point is, as much as I love knowing that I didnt just waste time making something for no one to see it, I love interacting with people! But being "popular" makes people afraid of doing that. I guess I'd rather be unpopular, but what I wish is for people to realize that even the "popular" creators are people too, and often want to talk to you just as much as you wanna talk to them.
Take what I say with a pinch of salt, however. I'm not "popular" at all by any means haha.
Being popular can be shackles as much as anything. Think about it for a moment. Your self-worth depends on other people liking you. You can get so tied up in like/dislike reputation gaining and losing that you lose track of who you really are inside. A lot of Hollywood actors fall prey to this, in particular the young ones who go from bang to bust on Disney.
The best mental place is to be able to walk down the street and respond to people as follows:
"You're great" - Thanks! See you later.
"You suck" - Sorry you feel that way. Bye.
If you cannot detach yourself from those shackles, the worst, most loathesome creatures on the planet will be able to manipulate you like a puppet and reduce you to tears by simply sneering at your activities. Tell them to kiss off. It's good for you, and is far more productive than striving for popularity among those idiots.
(by the way, you're great!)
Frame challenge: I don't think the question really matters, outside a few fairly narrow contexts.
Once you know what the relation between the community and yourself is, then I think it is rather immaterial to your happiness or your actions whether the word "popular" happens to describe that relation.
On the other hand, if you're unsure how the community relates to you, then studying dictionary definitions will not help create clarity about that.
Of course, if you want to describe your relation with the community to someone, then you may need to figure out whether "popular" is a word that will make the listener understand what you're trying to say. But it seems to be a mistake to make the word itself a goal.
When I write, I want to make some readers happy with the stories I produce, and -- more selfishly -- I want them to think I'm a swell guy for being able to write those stories. I have some readers who have made it clear that I've succeeded triumphantly with both, as far as they are concerned. However, in numeric terms there are not terribly many of them, compared to many people of greater horse fame. Is that "popular", then? Heck if I know, or care. No matter whether or not, I'm happy for the ones I have reached, and still wish there were more ...
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Or, hmmm ... perhaps it's more subtle than that.
There's a difference between wanting people to like you and wanting people to think of you as "popular".
The first one is merely human; we're social animals. And trying to deny that want means you risk becoming at best a cynic, at worst Darth Vader. (As long as you don't want to be liked by everybody, in which case chasing an impossible and self-contradictory goal will probably destroy you anyway.)
The second one is a fallacy, but -- now that I think about it -- probably a fairly common one. That's where one starts focusing on the word. And priorities can get crossed so you end up sacrificing actual people for the appearance of being liked.
First, I hate popularity. I don't care about the popularity of others. I hate it for myself. It is because of my anxiety. The more popularity that I perceive the more pressure I feel. The more pressure I feel the more anxiety I feel. The more anxiety I feel the more isolated I get, especially from what I think the source is regardless of it be writing, music, an event, or whatever else. The more isolated I get the more likely I perceive even someone just saying hi as popularity and them wanting what I will call, for the sake of being as short as possible, fan service of some kind. That generates more pressure, more anxiety... It is a cycle I'm learning to control better over time but it is still something I struggle with.
At Bronycon 2019 I saw people with various levels of popularity and how they dealt with it. This includes Pascoite, Mono, Somber, and even non-fanfic writers like 4EFB to name a few. I would not want to deal with that. That is part of why I avoided going up to almost all of them to even just say hi. The other part of that being that I see it as kind of rude to interrupt somebody's life for your own selfish reasons but that is something different altogether. I said almost all of them because I did go up to Horizon and Mono to congratulate both of them for their own well-deserved reasons.
As for depression, writing and why it may not help? I'm going to put my two cents in with a disclaimer that I am not a professional and am not formally trained in the matters but I do have personal experience with depression so take this with the grains of salt that it is worth. Writing is a temporary escape. While it can be greatly cathartic to do it isn't an answer to depression. This is why it isn't a cure. Let me point out that there is no cure or answer to depression that is known to medical science at the moment. If there was such an answer getting rid of it would be something relatively routine like healing a wound or recovering from a cold.
The important factor here, in my opinion, is the fact that it is a temporary escape. It is not a solution and it should not be treated as such as that can be very dangerous. As a temporary escape, it can provide occasional room to breathe and relax. Beyond that, it also has the potential to actually help someone fight depression. There are multiple ways of fighting depression and I have read a few stories that address that and do it very well. There is the potential that reading those stories can actually help someone deal with their depression in some way. You never know where or how you will find someone or something that can help you.
I'm a firm believer in the idea that popularity is a state of mind. Things like follower count only matter as much as you want it to matter.