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The rising popularity of social media has given artists, writers, and creators alike a new means of sharing their work. Yet, like any new platform for creativity, the benefits of broadcasting your voice to the world are often offset by the threats of plagiarism and backlash. As a writer who found his writing base on Tumblr, my experiences with social media have yielded much of the same results. So, In this article I will discuss the positives and negatives of sharing your writing on social media, and what you can do to avoid internet backlash.

Without a doubt, the ability to publish your voice on the Internet has led to an unprecedented boom in activity and outreach among younger generations. Social media presents a source of legitimacy which older generations often fail to provide. So, the boom in creativity among Generation Z is unsurprising; moreover, the potential benefits social media yields to creative writers are crucial in an era where creative genius is stifled for the six-figure job. The impacts of social media for creative writers are thus:

First, social media allows writers - both new and well established - to experiment with their writing. Sites like Tumblr and Wattpad are literary sandboxes - they allow you to expose your writing to an anonymous reader pool, giving you greater access to feedback. Moreover, writers gain critical exposure to other writers, which helps broaden one’s creativity and understanding of the limitlessness of language. When I first started posting my writing on Tumblr - and, needless to say, my writing was not exactly… good… - the exposure I received to other writers’ work was incredibly important to my development as a writer. Where readers provide a verbal outreach to young writers through feedback and approval, famous and well-written literature provides an emotional outreach which many poets and authors lack when they first start out as writers. In my opinion, an understanding of how language can impact you emotionally is far more important than just learning how to write because, at the end of the day, writers are not writing for other people. They write for themselves. Thus, social media allows you to integrate yourself into writing communities and to find not only the words you are looking for, but also the emotions you are trying to feel. Everything else is language.

Second, social media provides legitimacy to your voice. Which is not to say your voice was illegitimate before, but social media helps make your voice feel legitimate. The feeling of being heard is equally important to your development as a writer, it helps you see value in your writing. Louise Gluck put it best when she writes “You are not alone, the poem said” - through literature, we empower both others and ourselves. The impact is tremendous: the motivation to create. The motivation to change something. Our generation has undoubtedly become the most politically vocal in poetry: poetry about poverty; poetry about sexism; poetry against rape; poetry about healing; poetry for gay marriage; poetry for transgender rights; poetry supporting refugees; poetry condemning war. Without legitimacy, this rise in political activism would have been lukewarm at best. And social media is the heart of much of this change. No longer silenced by the voices of the older generation, the Internet provides a platform for political views, for personal experiences, for art, for writing, for poetry. So, you are experimenting with writing and you have something to say and a voice to say it with and words to use? Go ahead and say it. You are not alone, the poem said.

Third, social media provides two unique opportunities to us: first, it gives us an emotional outlet distinct from the act of writing itself. Although journal entries give us personal relief to our emotions, posting writing on social media is a form of (protected) anonymous speech, where the feeling of being heard is not tempered by the anxiety of being heard by people you know. Second, it opens up access to new communities and publishing opportunities. For example, on Tumblr there is a strong Muslim poets community across the globe, East and West. These writers, such as Azra Tabassum (@5000letters), Salma Deera (@writingwillows), Yasmin Z (@rustyvoices), etc. blend raw, emotional content with writing styles both soft and loud, gentle yet firm, reposed yet highly expressive. Writing communities like theirs provide empowerment and voice to historically unheard voices, which is a testament to the powers of social media. Moreover, opportunities for publication exist as well for those unheard voices. For example, Where Are You Press, founded by Clementine von Radics in 2013, is a group dedicated to publishing the voices of queer/nontraditional/politically activist poets; ZigZag Zine, founded this year, is a publishing startup which seeks to promote the voices of marginalized social groups, such as queer poets and poets of color. Although these opportunities exist for writers outside of social media, they are much more accessible and easier to find when connected to online writing communities. Thus, social media allows you to find your voice, develop your voice, and brand it to readers and publishers alike, creating unprecedented opportunities for authors and poets across the globe.

The traditional downside to online publication is the prevalence of unmonitored plagiarism and backlash. Any poet with a modest internet following - like myself - can tell you how frustrating it is to have credit removed or changed on your own work, and the amount of haters on social media can feel both overwhelming and delegitimizing. Finding an audience on Tumblr and Wattpad and Twitter is challenging at best, and sometimes you forget why you wanted to post your writing in the first place. Trust me, every well known writer has been there, social media or traditional. But, and I cannot stress this enough, the defining factor that makes social media a valuable resource is the presence of community. Yes, your work may be stolen. Yes, you may hear someone tell you that your writing stinks, or you might feel in a writing rut and social media is just distracting you, or you might just feel insecure about your writing being surrounded by established poets. And those are drawbacks. And those are legitimate reasons to find different outlets for your writing. So you have two options: find a different option, and you may very well find success putting your writing in a journal or in a spoken word performance. Or, if you stick with social media, find a writing community. Writing communities are how I found my voice - writers are raucous, brash, and uncensored, they promise to tell it like it is. They give you feedback, they give you legitimacy, they call out plagiarism, and they help connect you to a wider audience. Writing communities are how all social media writers got established - so, if you want to take a risk and put your voice out there, find a group who will listen. As you continue to write, an audience is guaranteed to follow.

Article by: Sean Glatch