Maybe the end of influencer culture is where community begins…

Greetings, dear meows! This one’s going be a think piece so grab a snack and pull up a chair 😉

I think a lot of us meows are tired.

Not necessarily tired of social media itself, but tired of feeling like everyone on it is trying to sell us a lifestyle, manufacture a moment or become the main character of the internet by Tuesday… 😛

For years, we’ve been told that successful content needs a flawless aesthetic, a perfectly curated identity and enough confidence to call yourself an influencer before you’ve influenced anybody to do anything. Personally I never adopted or applied those terms referring to myself. To be honest, I’m struggling a bit with the whole perception vs reality thing with all I’ve got going on, which I why I started writing about this. It just got me thinking about what I’m seeing across the board online, how much the shine is wearing off, and feeling good about the way in which I’ve navigated my own path with social media over the past 16 plus years. I’ve seen so much come and go. The trends and such. And I think collectively a lot of us meows are starting to feel the same.

People are starting to look beyond the immaculate countertops, color-coordinated kitchens and suspiciously effortless morning routines and ask: Who are you, really?

And honestly? I think that’s a wonderful thing.

I believe we’re moving toward something much more interesting: community driven people with actual life experiences. People who make us laugh, teach us something, share what they genuinely love and occasionally leave a dirty pile of clothes or dishes in the background.

Give me the hobbyists. The musicians playing to fifteen people because they still love the music. The home cooks who don’t own matching plates. The collectors, gardeners, artists, horror fans, neighborhood historians and delightfully eccentric people who know entirely too much about one wonderfully specific subject. Teach me something new! I wanna LEARN!

Give me the weirdos.

Not “weird” as a carefully constructed brand identity, but the beautifully unpolished kind… the people whose interests, personalities and stories make the internet feel less like one enormous commercial and more like the strange little neighborhood it used to be.

We’ve also seen how quickly small businesses and ordinary people can become characters in a public spectacle. An innocent misunderstanding about cake pops, a positive coffee review that goes left because of a picture posted of the banner that shows the address (make that make sense) and how hot dogs or potato buns can suddenly turn into days of discourse, reaction videos and strangers choosing teams, but mostly it’s how things are being handled by meows who lack some pretty basic social skills and literally self sabotaging what probably took years to build because of an impulsive emotional response posted online, instead of turning it into a to a positive and collaborative celebration that would have been beneficial for all.

Sometimes it’s entertaining. Sometimes there are fair criticisms to be made. But eventually, we have to ask whether we’re building community or merely gathering around to watch another person get dragged through the town square. I mean, I love a good show as much as the next meow, but again, it’s got me thinking about what we feed into and encourage.

That doesn’t mean nobody should be held accountable. It means accountability and entertainment aren’t necessarily the same thing and the internet has become very skilled at confusing them.

I say all this while looking at my own relationship with social media. I’m a chef. I make food, photograph it, give it enticing names and let it go. The goal is to inspire. To peak interest. I post because I enjoy it. I love experimenting, sharing ideas, meeting people and discovering what somebody else is making in their kitchen. That’s how I continue to learn, grow, evolve, and continue to hone my own skills as I continue on in life.

I’m certainly not getting rich from it, that’s fo sho! But I’m grateful and blessed for what it’s allowed me to create and the doors that are opening for me, one by one.

I have gained conversations, friendships, inspiration and a community of people who understand that food is rarely just food. It carries memories, culture, creativity, grief, joy and the occasional completely unnecessary drizzle of sauce placed there because it looked fabulous.

That means more to me than pretending every post is part of some expertly engineered content strategy.

Maybe we don’t need more influencers. Maybe we need more people willing to contribute something. Humor, knowledge, encouragement, curiosity, a recipe, a song, a peculiar collection or a story that makes someone else feel a little less alone. That’s why I love art so much. It forces you to think and imagine, and appreciate the strange beauty that surrounds us all. Colors. Textures. Smells. Tastes. Feelings. To see the world through someone else’s eyes.

Maybe influence should be the result of connecting with people, not the title we give ourselves before the connection happens.

The polished aesthetic isn’t inherently bad. I rather enjoy it. Beautiful things are fun. And presentation matters. Believe me, I have absolutely moved food around a plate until I’m happy with the way it looks. And with the podcast I’m very aware of how much perception matters, in particularly when it comes to the guests I’ve had. Again I’m presenting them as I see them. Wonderful meows doing extraordinary things. Being brave, bold, courageous and fully believing in themselves. I rather enjoy introducing them to meows and uplifting them.

But when aesthetics become a substitute for personality, experience or substance, everything starts to look and sound the same.

And most of us are tired as hell of the same. It’s boring!

I want social media to feel fun again. I want discovery instead of performance. Conversation instead of constant promotion, even though that’s all I do is promote myself… the irony 😹

People who are still learning, changing, experimenting and occasionally making a glorious mess in public and not editing the fumbles out. I’m all about breaking the fourth wall and throwing the rule book out the flippin window!

The next era of the internet doesn’t need to be perfectly branded. It could be more human, more whimsical and far more interesting. Even with all the AI stuff. It’s forcing us all to question everything, as we should. Is it REAL???

I’m already seeing the musicians, makers, home cooks & chefs, enthusiastic amateurs and eccentric neighborhood characters being recognized by meows like me. Who like to look at all the books on the shelf. Bring back the people who aren’t trying to influence the entire world but somehow make their little corner of it better.

Bring back the weirdos.

There’s plenty of room at the table.

And that’s my 2 cents that no one asked for… 🤘😝🤘 But what do you think about all of this? To quote John Lennon, “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only meow.” 😻

Until we eat again… Cheers, hugs, & meows!

Xo~Nikki ✨🖤🔮😻🦋

Follow me around the way cause I’m fun and I cook yummy food!

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