I have found myself back on social media out of sheer boredom. When I’m breastfeeding or pumping I need something to do with my hands. I need to stay awake. And social media distracts me. It also helps me feel like I’m part of society, even though I spend all day in the house with baby.
Since coming back online, I’ve noticed a few things. One, I have a lot more control over the platform than I thought. I’ve since made my Facebook private and deleted everyone who wasn’t friend or family. I also opened a new, private Instagram and did the same thing. I share photos of my family, the baby, updates of how we’re all doing. It’s a great way to stay in touch with those who are close to us but live so far away.
I’ve also gotten back to blogging and shifted my focus to the messy and uncertain aspects of motherhood. I’ve gotten a great response and have discovered a whole new tribe of women to connect with. The mom blogger community is so warm and supportive. We’re all doing this same crazy, scary, amazing thing. And we may all be doing it differently, but we’re all doing it together. I love it! And I love all the new connections I’ve been able to make using social media.
That being said, I’m having a hard time with one bit of it. I don’t feel comfortable sharing photos of my new baby on the social media pages for my blog. Those pages are obviously public, meaning anyone and everyone can see the content. Which is a great thing, because I want to share my content with as many people who need it. But my content is my written word. My posts. My thoughts. My insights. I don’t want to turn my daughter into content. I don’t feel right using her image to promote the blog. So if I do share a picture with her, I try to keep her face hidden.
My husband’s opinion is that her image is already out there. And by “there”, he means cyber space. His point being that nothing is ever really private online. Even texting images of the baby makes them accessible. And, yeah, he’s probably right. But I guess I feel guilty using her image to boost my personal brand.
That’s what I’m doing, after all. I’m sharing content on social media to gain an audience for the blog. I want to share it with as many people as I can. And in order to get my name out there, I need to share content. And some of that content needs to be high quiality images. And I bet that if I start sharing cute pictures of my kid, my following would certainly increase. Because she’s adorable and everyone loves a baby. But I read this statistic the other day that 92% of kids have an online presence before they turn two. And I guess it kind of shook me.
Don’t get me wrong, I spend ALL day on Instagram consuming content of other people’s children. I eat it up! I love seeing how they style their pictures, what moments they capture, all the cute little faces. And if I wanted to share images of my baby, I’d literally never run out of new content. I spend all day taking pictures of her.
Maybe when she’s a little bigger I won’t feel this way. Maybe I’m just trying to keep her mine and only mine for a little longer. Maybe when I feel I’ve grown a loyal following around the blog I’ll feel more comfortable sharing her. Maybe I’m just overly paranoid that creeps on the internet will steal her image and use it for something unsavory. Maybe I’m overthinking this.
But for now, for right now, she’s all mine.
massive follower of yours
Love this! We try (often unsuccessfully because we have no immediate family nearby), to keep our daughters’ images mostly off social media. For me, it’s as much a privacy (they’re too young to give their permission) and safety (I worked in children’s hospitals and took courses on child protection and the scary things that happen when too many people have access to your kids’ info) thing as much as what you’ve described here. Loving your posts!
Thank you so much for reaching out. I still feel so on the fence about this. I’ve been sharing on my private pages in an effort to stay connected with friends and family, but even that gets me a little nervous. And for the brand, I still try to only share photos where you can’t see her face. Even though she’s literally the cutest baby I’ve ever seen lol