Growth & Social Media

I don’t know about you, but it is hard to get a pat for me from me. Usually I am hard on myself with critical feedback. A pat is very rare.

Recently I got a pat from me for me for starting mentor circles. It has been 4 weeks and I guess we are progressing really well.

I believe in iterative development. So I started cohort one with strong principles but flexible methods. The best part of mentor circles is the questions I get every week.

One common theme of questions is about how to use social media for personal growth. I want to share my point of view with all of you, not just the cohort.

I simplify my thinking using frameworks. I see social media segmentation as a 4C.

Based on how we use social media we can classify ourselves as

Consumers
Contributors
Curators
Creators/Co-creators

There is no clear line between the segments. We all engage in each "C" every day to some extent. When we comment on a post, we are contributing. When we write a post, we are creating (and when we use ChatGPT and write a post, we are co-creating). When we read a post, we are consuming. When we collect the best and share listicles, nuggets, takeaways, or templates, we are curating.

While we engage in each "C," it is important to think about which "C" we do more and which one we do less. Thinking in percentages can help. Typical trend is we consume far more than we create, curate, or contribute.

A simple hack I use is, to create as much as I consume, maintaining a 1:1 ratio. I call it ingestion:digestion ratio.

If I spend 40 minutes doom-scrolling, I make it a point to spend 40 minutes writing that day. The first one is easy, and the second one is hard. Being disciplined about having equal consume-creation time has helped me reduce consumption and increase creation. If creation is hard, start with contributing to the creations and curating the amazing stuff.