Why I Left YouTube and Social Media and a Thank You Letter to my First 250+ Steemit Followers!
Salutations Steemit Friends!
This post is a shout out to my first 250+ Steemit followers thanking you for your support. I've received such a warm welcome since I first began posting on Steemit in late May! I have to say, it's been such a pleasant departure from other social media platforms.
In just my short time here, I can truly attest that Steemit is a community that fosters both inspiration and encouragement to its contributors. As a content creator since 2006 (crazy it's been that long), I sincerely appreciate the kind words of encouragement that I've received from my lovely Steemit friends.
As a special note to @happyphoenix, many thanks for featuring my posts in your Steemit newsletters. : )
When I first started in social media, I was a bit of a "video vixen" or "angel" (btw, those were Heavy.com's choice of words, not mine!). My main Youtube channel vlogolution grew to nearly 100,000 subscribers and over 60 million views by 2012...
When YouTube gives you sour social media lemons, you squeeze 'em rrrealllllyyyy hard and you make some STEEM instead! : D
Some of it was crazy, celebrity inspired satire, some quasi-political. I quickly discovered that if your politics are not in alignment with Google's political agenda, you'll encounter problems with censorship on the platform. That was back in late 2008....
Fast forward to late 2011 - early 2012, @alexpmorris and I found the censorship (constant flagging attacks, video demonetization and even death threats) too overwhelming and costly to continue my then project, a "frisky and fun-spirited" cocktail web series, Naughty Tipples.
So, I shelved my channel and took a long, social media hiatus. Honestly, the censorship had me feeling totally burned out. I felt like I was at a point that I had developed some form of social media anxiety, lol!
On the upside, I had a lot more free time to pursue my other passions. I enrolled into an accelerated design program at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT SUNY) here in New York City, and then continued my studies at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).
I was first introduced to Steemit last summer, waited to join until January, and it wasn't until late spring that I actualized my Steemit journey. Maybe it was the gnawing dread and fear that my time and effort put into community building on another platform could quickly dissipate, as it had before on YouTube.
Decadent and delightful Parisian haute cuisine totally amuses my bouche. I'll be posting about this fine dining experience to Steemit soon!
So, with a bit of courage (and a push from @alexpmorris) I decided to dip my toes into Steemit and put some of my content out there again. I knew I would have to return to social media sooner or later... the big question was on which platform? After all, so many are now plagued with ridiculous censorship and heinous trolls.
So far Steemit has been a breath of fresh air. It's such a sweet relief (and reassurance) to know that our social media sweat equity is secure on the blockchain!
In the past five years I hadn't made it public as to why I "disappeared" from social media. Long time fans have inquired if I was "dead" (lol, for real).
Just yesterday, a follower to my main Facebook page commented that they had been following me for 11 years! Receiving positive feedback (and not gonna lie, especially in the form of flattery) DOES mean a lot to content creators like me. It makes some of the strife feel totally worth it!
As a side note, I have to say that I was shocked I even received a Facebook comment! As many of you may already know, Facebook pages have been rendered virtually useless now unless you pay or "boost" your posts to your own followers. Even on smaller pages (a few thousand fans) like mine!
Looking towards the future, my hope is that Steemit continues to grow, blossom and allow its contributors to fully enjoy the fruits of their labors!
Thank you all once again! : )
All the best,
Michelle
xx
On to happier and yummier things like tipples and treats...
Here are a few of my recent Steemit posts in case you missed 'em...
A Yummy Waldorf Salad (PHOTOS + RECIPE)...
Link: https://steemit.com/food/@michellectv/yummy-waldorf-chicken-salad-photos-recipe
Marie-Antoinette Inspired Champagne Cocktails (VIDEO TUTORIALS)...
Link: https://steemit.com/food/@michellectv/celebrate-bastille-day-with-these-imperial-cocktails-video-tutorials
A Blueberry Banana Blast Smoothie (PHOTOS + RECIPE)...
Link: https://steemit.com/food/@michellectv/celebrate-bastille-day-with-these-imperial-cocktails-video-tutorials
Welcome... the weather is nice here.
It's mostly steemy and sunny ; )
I see what you did there :D
I'm sure your efforts will be appreciated here . MMM your dishes look yummy, but i can't make the Waldorf Salad because i'm all out of Waldorfs.
just voted you, hope you vote me back :))
be careful not to spam! you might end up getting flagged!.. Lets leave our comments nice and clean with useful comments!
vlogolution youtube channel still has 65000 subscribers . do you plan on doing anything with the channel?
I can see using it for very short formart how-tos and for live casts in the future... : )
Greetings @michellectv. I am glad to see you in the genre of introduceyourself.
Thank you @igor-steem. Users like @correctdrop are the reason I waited many months to start using my Steemit account.
It is important that everyone liked it! Or almost everyone :-)
This is true! Almost everyone minus one. That's okay, he'll be on my Steemit naughty list for Christmas this year ; )
Besides, envy is one of the deadly sins! We all need to learn how to enjoy the success of other people!
@bereginja-steem It sounds good!
That's excellent advice!
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I have seen that. Look here:
just voted you, hope you vote me back :))
Keep up the good work @michelletv!! You naughty girl, you used the introduceyourself tag for a second time. Not Kosher.
I've seen quite a few users reposting new introduction posts after every 100 or so new followers, and sometimes even multiple times the same week! Believe it or not, there doesn't seem to be all that much out there on the "right" way to do it. However, @teamsteam has put out some nice "howto" introduceyourself guides, and ironically he recently released another introduceyourself post himself, despite already having over 4100 followers, and 450,000 SP!
Link: Hello Steemit! - Coinmarketcap.com Introduced Me!
I'd actually be interested in hearing his perspective on all this (and in more depth, yours as well), certainly after the "trollish" comment and flag-spamming crapfest that took place on here last night. I just hope it doesn't scare off @michellectv from posting more, because it did bring back some bad memories from our YouTube days years back.
And regarding updates to introduceyourself in general, I know for myself, it took me nearly 6 months or so before I wrote an introduceyourself post, and even then I didn't get it quite right the first time around.
If some of us have some big updates to share once or twice a year about our lives and "who we are" (as did @teamsteam), or someone's finally found the "courage" to open up a bit more on why they're here (as @michellectv chose to do), is that really so bad?
Guess we're all just trying to find the best way to show "who we are" and what we're all about! However, no one deserves what happened here last night just for sharing a heart-felt update to their original introduction.
Cheers, buddy! :)
just voted you, hope you vote me back :))
Way to go @alexpmorris! I just joined Steemit about a week ago, and I'm very glad I found this post...probably wouldn't have been "introduced" otherwise.
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are you for real @correctdrop? sounds like there's some serious jealously going on there. You recently resteemed "Hiii Steemit :) I'm Nina and this is my introduction !". @momdmalek has posted FOUR introduceyourself posts in just over a week! So what exactly do you feel @michellectv has done wrong again?
You didn't seem to have any problem with @momdmalek, however. And if you're so sure the current success of @michellectv's post is ALL ATTRIBUTED to her using the introduceyourself tag, why hasn't that worked out so well for @momdmalek with a total of just a few bucks over all four of her recent introduction posts?
Maybe you should just admit that all you're really doing here is taking out the anger over your bitcoin losses on @michellectv ("I panicked after loosing way to much!"). Perhaps you should have considered investing some of that money in upping your own STEEM POWER instead.
Furthermore, perhaps you should focus on creating some of your own quality content, instead of going around "follow for follow". Following 622 people to gain 445 followers doesn't count as "having more followers", certainly not high quality ones as @michellectv has worked hard to attract.
And what's YouTube have to do with it anyway? Although it's rather ironic that you, coming over from YouTube are acting exactly like one of the heinous trolls we've all been quite happy to mostly avoid on STEEMIT so far.
UPDATE: I'm sorry to say that as you've decided to SPAM her post with over 20 useless comments, you left me no choice but to flag 95% of them down. I have left your original comment or two for posterity, so we can all forever remember your ridiculous and outrageous spam-trollish behavior this evening.
Thanks for pointing out this user's hypocrisy @alexpmorris. I really do appreciate REAL SUPPORT from LONG TIME SUPPORTERS! YOU ARE AND HAVE BEEN MY SOCIAL MEDIA ROCK!
So sorry you had to go through that. Guy wonders why he's having trouble gaining traction on STEEMIT and tries taking it out on you. Maybe he should try creating some real content, instead of crying foul after posting nothing more than an animated gif of bacon that he didn't even create himself, without even adding an extra word. Unbelievable...
Here, I can do better than that without even trying... "How delicious does this bacon look?! And to think that it may even work as a potential hangover cure, I'm sold... PASS ME THE BACON! :D lol
Even more funny, this guy literally created his own SPAM post featuring SPAM! lol
The good news is that it's nothing like what we used to deal with on youtube, where we could come across 10 of him in a day. Guess one of those creeps was bound to slip through the cracks and find their way onto STEEMIT sooner or later.
Lucky for us, we don't have to wait for or count on youtube support to deal with it anymore! :)
Fascinating! I love bacon but that's certainly not kosher...
We'll be certain to know if it's one my favorite psycho stalkers that has followed me here when they rant they wished I had "died in 9/11!".
The YouTube death threats of raping and murdering me, my mother and daughters because I'm a woman committing "haram" for making a cocktail are lovely memories...
Bacon can actually be kosher if I recall
Surprise! Its the internet! Y'all aren't new to this... And I don't see anything trollish yet. But I hope they don't need posts because she didn't think it's ok.... It is... Go make more post hehe, and repost old ones, just like everyone else..
Conformity... Frack it.
How can I down vote your comments sir?
Thank you for all the exposure @correctdrop! I think you should use up even more of your vote power and flag spam another 100 of my posts that have done nothing but try to offer unique insights and perspectives to help out the STEEMIT community.
It's of course a lot easier for you to do, than to actually contribute something useful to STEEMIT, or to society in general:
https://steemd.com/@correctdrop portrait:
At your next antifa meeting, perhaps you can also bring up why almost none of your "follow for followers" upvote your copy/paste posts and stage a protest rally! lol
Cheers! :)
Hahahahaha rofl!!!!
She is a n00b give her a break! :P
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Well, this naughty shiska doesn't typically do kosher recipes. Or, halal....
However, if I get enough requests I'll consider including some a kosher recipes inthe future. What should it be? A Manischewitz wine cocktail?
Until then, L’Chaim! ; )
I believe such dishes are simply certified/verified organic... No chemicals gmo or pesticides. I haven't seen anything suggesting otherwise, but I still trying to understand any differences... Doesn't se to be a cultural link to style of food, more quality of ingredients
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just voted you, hope you vote me back :))
Perhaps some kosher is organic. My understanding is that it has been overseen under rabbinic supervision.
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#1. If you read my post you would have gathered that a) I started on YouTube 2006 and b) I stopped publishing to YouTube in 2012.
#2. If you read my post you would have gathered that I officially created my account on Steemit this past January.
#3. @correctdrop, your account was only created last month in June. Your comment is very much like a YouTube hater, a reason why I stopped posting there. Also stated in my post, had you read it.
Hammer them haterz @michellectv ! If it wasn't for lovely and interesting people like you I know I wouldn't be coming on tha Steemit ! I Love You And Everyone In This World !! Keep up the good work and rock that intro tag as often as needed ! lol
What can I say I gave them the M.C. ... hammer! Thanks for your sweet comment and thoughtful comment @lanceman!
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I did intro 11 months after :) Nothing bad on it we can always reintro and give some more info . I undarstand your point about hight payd outs but you have to admit ......... not only posts count here also NAME and Reputation !
If it was about the payouts I should have done this a week ago! I'm not about the money. If I were, I wouldn't have started posting to YouTube in 2006 when there wasn't any money it yet!
Look i like you , i like cooking also , i think your posts compared to his are way better . About payouts we all know here NAME pay more than quality , On end the money are nice bonus ) Keep steeming and good lucky . Trolls arent welcome anyway !
Thanks for the support @patelincho!
I <3 food more than ppl now in my life! lol!
same here
Welcome! Steemit is the way to go.
Thanks @fisch!
Congratulations on that , your pictures are outstanding
just voted you, hope you vote me back :))
Thanks for the kind words @steemboys
So glad I finally convinced you to go "all in" on STEEMIT @michellectv, and to think, you didn't even have to invest a dime more than your time to do it!
Congrats on reaching 250... I now wish you a smooth and steady run straight to 1000! :D
Yes, you finally convinced me @alexpmorris to take the chance and make the effort! Thank you for your encouragement, like always! ; ) xx
thanks also for the "shoutout"! resteemed... :)
That's so sweet of you... ; ) Here's your Alizee Happy Minnow Dance again. Haha!!!
now, how can't you be nuts over a girl, who would post this for her guy?! lol :D
It's hypnotic, isn't it?
that is fantastic
Is it just me or is that not a minnow on her bum?
Her? I just assumed that is you. So, yes, it looks like you have a minnow on your bum.
Only when I'm on Steemit ; )
Good job Alex. You deserved at least one follow for this and I did that.
Very good piece of writing Michelle! I thoroughly enjoyed your writing style and HQ photos.
Keep up the good job.
Happy Steeming!
Thank you @ugetfunded ... glad you enjoyed it ; )
I remember who bring and persuade @michelletv to join steemit community is you @alexpmorris? :)
Yes, it took him some convincing ; )
All in sound great! Go on!
IWelcome to Steemit!
Thank you!
Congratulations beauty!
Thank you @makishart!