So I ran a fanart account on instagram when I was about 14 (Actually I ran three, but that is irrelevant). I had mutuals and I followed other fan accounts, but I also loved to scroll and look at random people's fan art.
I'll never forget about this one time when I was scrolling through someone's fan account. I LOVED their artwork. I probably spent about 20 minutes scrolling through their page trying to decide which piece I wanted to buy (they sold prints of their fan art). I Liked (as in the act of hitting the like button) a lottt of their posts.
When I finally decided on a piece and was about to go grab my mom so she could buy it (I was about 14, i didn't have a credit card, so I would have to pay my mom back in cash), I noticed a dm from the artist.
The artist told me to stop spam Liking their posts. Apparently it messed with the instagram algorithm or something. Recently, I decided to do some googling (actually duckduckgo-ing because FUCK GOOGLE, FUCK AI) to see what's up with that. It's seems to be mostly a myth, or at the very least it would only matter if I actually was spamming likes in the manner that a bot would. Regardless, I was taking my time looking at all their posts, swiping through all slides in the carousel, and Liking them because I was interested in buying something from them. Perhaps if they'd artist had been gracious and understanding or acknowledged that my Likes were a form of praise, I might've reacted differently. But 14-year-old me found the dm rude and uncalled for.
This dm irked me, because what do you mean I need to stop Liking your posts. I Liked your posts (the action) because I liked your posts (the feeling i held). I truly did not give a fuck about traction on instagram, i cared about consuming and potentially BUYING cool art. I felt i was giving my proper thanks/support by Liking worthy posts, and I didn't understand how it was my responsibility to help the artist reach more people. I was the audience, I was the person they were trying to reach, and I refused to be merely a step-ladder to help them reach other people.
I never responded to the dm, but I decided not to purchase the fan art. I also went through and removed all of my Likes and blocked the account so i'd never like one of their posts ever again. As a 14-year-old, I was a little petty.
I felt that this artist was being incredibly ungrateful. In the world of instagram, the currency is Likes. I gave my Likes out when I believed they were deserved. And I thought many of this artist's posts deserved a Like. And they tell me not to because of the dumb algorithm?? like, if your post is cool, you get a Like. It was that simple. If you have a million cool posts, I put a Like on those million of your posts. If the artist's goal was money, I was gonna give it to them, through the platform on which they sold their art. But beggars can't be choosers; if they wanted my support in the form of buying a print, then they must accept my support in the form of Liking their posts on instagram.
Nowadays, I do understand that engagement with posts and traction on social media is important for artists in online spaces to make money. And with the existence of AI, i feel strongly that artists should be fairly compensated for their work. But I think about this experience often. It changed how I interacted with the internet.
Before, I gave out Likes to any post I felt deserved it. After, I did the same, but more sparingly. I obliged to the request often. If I went to someone's account, I looked at a few and liked only my top five of their posts before moving on. I guess I became a lot less, idk, impulsive? I stopped commenting on posts, realizing that I didn't care to be talking to these people. My appreciation for their art was contained in the Like I gave their post or, more rarely, the money I spent on their prints. And that was enough.
I think that was the start of the end of my fan-account era. I realized just how much people prioritized popularity on the internet. I didn't stop drawing my fan art, I simply shared it with less and less frequency, until eventually my accounts were abandoned.
I don't have a good way to end this post, I've just been thinking about the internet and social media a lot lately. In particular bot accounts and all that. And so yeah. I ran fan accounts. Someone told me to stop spam liking. I found it rude. It changed how I thought about the internet.
