this time of year, it feels like everyone’s “all-in” on SEEMINGLY A LOTTA PLACES, and it creates this energy of feeling left out, or left behind, if we don’t immediately hatch a plan to join them.
2025 brought huge pressure to diversify our social platforms due to so much disenchantment + distrust. there was fear (rightfully!) around being reliant on any one social media space, AND! it also stretched us thin, diluted our impact, and landed us at the end of the year feeling more burnt out on the idea of showing up online than maybe ever.
I felt it too. I was attracted to the idea of being everywhere, because there’s safety in that. and because I’ve built a business that allows me a lot of creative capacity, I can trick myself into thinking I can do more and more and more and more.
technically, I was “keeping up.”
but there was a cost.
by aiming to be seen on as many places as possible day in day out, I was making it harder to truly see ME on any of them.
the actual depth and breadth of my personality + leadership got lost in the sauce of “doing it all.”
WE’RE NOT GOING DOWN THAT PATH AGAIN THIS YEAR.
I’m not saying “no new platforms,” because I DO believe in diversification to a degree, but we need some measures in place to make sure we don’t stretch beyond what’s actually beneficial to our online leadership, as a whole.
as you decide what spaces will (and won’t!) get your energy in the months to come, ask first:
001 / will it rock the foundation?
I recommend folks don’t try a new platform until they feel so secure in their existing spaces that playing somewhere new isn’t going to detract from the energy they’re putting somewhere else (unless it’s an intentional pivot to replace one platform with another).
i.e., your new platform is being added on to your strategy, taking up open space that you already had to give, not borrowing capacity from one of your other communities.
002 / will it impact all-around quality?
this goes hand in hand with the above, but the deeper question is: are you going to have to dilute the quality of your presence as a whole just so you can show up in more places?
2025 brought a lot of pressure around being everywhere because there was so much instability within the networks we’ve come to rely on, but the shift in 2026 is from how many to how well.
003 / is it an aligned medium?
while I do believe that every platform gives us a chance to play in the mediums that we prefer, there are obvious favourites — and it’s not just about the modality of expression (writing vs. video etc) but about the tone, the topics, and even the interface that ask us to check in with whether or not this is a place that makes us feel more inspired to create (orrrr drains us).
SOCIAL MEDIA IS A CREATIVE PRACTICE AND DON’T U FORGET IT.
004 / does participation feel positive?
social media is social media. and yes, even *the writing one.* any algorithm-based platform is going to require you to be an active participant in the culture + features of the space in order to succeed. so the question here is: how does that participation impact you?
do a little test today as you browse all your various spaces… how do you feel when you’re done? inspired, connected, satisfied? or frustrated, comparison-y, like you wanna flush your phone down the toilet? just saying.
assuming you read through the list above and whatever new platform you’ve got your eye on is checking off all the boxes, here’s what happens next →
001 / OBSERVE THE CULTURE (TAKE NOTES!)
002 / DECIDE HOW TO STAND OUT
003 / CREATE A SIMPLE PRODUCTION SYSTEM
004 / POST YOUR BARE MINIMUM FOR PRACTICE
005 / REPEAT UNTIL YOU HAVE CAPACITY FOR MORE
I’m promising to hold myself accountable to this ↑ for the year ahead, too.
YOU COMIN’?
