The Downsides of Being a Social Media Internet Person
Being an internet nobody definitely has its perks. If you can make it work, you get total freedom to create whatever you want, whenever you want, from anywhere in the world. With the right structure, this business can be very lucrative, and when combined with multiple streams of income, it can even feel more secure than a 9 to 5 in some ways. But while there are plenty of positives, there are also some serious drawbacks that people need to think about before jumping into this line of ‘work’, if you can call it that.
Never ending cycle of figuring things out
Unlike traditional trades, where changes are immediately visible and results are clear, this kind of work often takes months to show outcomes. You’ll make countless mistakes and you’ll never feel like you’ve truly figured things out. Nothing is ever finished. It’s a constant cycle of testing, adjusting, and wondering if you’re on the right track. If you try a new approach to your videos today, you’ll need to stick with it for at least 3 to 6 months before you know if it works. And you have to be prepared for it to fail.
Easily heading down the wrong path
When you focus on one subject, you’ll naturally attract an audience that only cares about that topic. If you later realise it’s not what you truly care about, you can feel stuck. Imagine building an audience around Leica cameras, then a few years later deciding bikepacking across the world is what you actually love. Don’t be surprised when 90% of your audience disappears. That’s not just disheartening, it can also be financial suicide if your main income depends on sharing online.
You will fail, a lot
Failure is unavoidable, and you have to accept it. If you break down every time something doesn’t work, you won’t last more than three years in this space. Even if you’re in the top 1% of internet nobodies, failure will still be a regular part of the job. But that’s not a bad thing, your most valuable lessons will always come from failure.
When your identity becomes your work
If your personality is a big part of your public image, you need to be ready for scrutiny. People will criticise, misinterpret, or even use things against you. This is especially true with social, political, or racial issues. With the rise of AI, people don’t just want to like the art, they want to like the artist. If they enjoy your work but find your humour offensive, you might lose them. Years ago, people separated the art from the artist. That’s no longer the case.
The internet never forgets
Part of growing up online is saying things you probably shouldn’t have. But whatever you post, it stays online. Even if you delete it, someone somewhere will have saved it. Cynical? Maybe. But it’s reality. This applies to your personal life too. I often see people share everything, even putting their kid in thumbnails, and I can’t help but wonder if they thought that through, or just went for easy clicks.
You can’t just walk away
In most jobs, you can leave if you’re bored or unhappy. Don’t like the culture at one accounting firm? Move to another. It’s not always easy, but it’s a fairly clean process. In this line of work, it’s not so simple. If most of your income comes from sponsored videos in the photography niche, but deep down you hate it and want to quit YouTube, you may feel trapped. Unless you have savings, other income streams, or you’re happy to take a regular job after years of self-employment, the exit strategy can be slow and messy.
Job security is complicated
This work only feels secure if you’ve built multiple income streams, with at least half of them being passive. If your money relies on sponsorships, freelance gigs, and brand deals, you’ll constantly face uncertainty, especially with a family to support. Brands and clients are flaky at the best of times, even with signed contracts, and you’ll often be chasing late payments.
Morals vs money
Once you build an audience, brands will start offering sponsorships, deals, and collaborations. If your platform is big enough, the money can be life changing. A single Instagram post can pay your monthly wage. A YouTube integration could pay five times that. In a perfect world, the brand, the money, your morals, and your audience all align. For example, if Apple asked me to promote the iPad Pro, I’d do it. I’m literally writing this on one right now. I use it, I believe in it, and it’s changed how I travel and work. But if Android offered me £5,000 to promote a tablet I’ve never touched, that wouldn’t feel right. Sounds simple, right? But what if rent is due, school uniforms need paying for, and dipping into your emergency fund isn’t an option? Suddenly, those morals get tested.
Welcome to attention media
Social media is dead. What we’re living in now is attention media, a time when subscriber count barely matters, and algorithms decide how much reach you get. Engagement is no longer about your audience, it’s about how long you can keep strangers hooked. That changes not just what you make, but why you make it. You hate gear videos? That’s funny, because the numbers tell me otherwise. The reason so many of us talk about gear and 10 top tips, is because that’s what people watch.
The dreaded comments
Nothing new here, you’ll get comments, and lots of them. Supportive, hateful, uplifting, abusive, funny, racist, encouraging, everything in between. Anonymous accounts give people the freedom to show their worst sides. Luckily, negative comments are only around 3%, but thanks to our natural bias, they’ll feel like 93%.
Admin is half the job
Creativity only makes up about 50% of my time. The rest goes into admin, emails, accounting, marketing, planning, and general business upkeep. Some people outsource, but I prefer to stay in control. It’s not necessarily bad, just a reality that’s often overlooked.
You’re the captain
Everything is on you. Every success, every failure, every problem, every breakthrough, 100% your responsibility. Your income, your lifestyle, your future, all depend on you. There’s no playbook and no set path. People with more experience can share advice, but ultimately everyone’s journey is unique. At the end of the day, you’re on your own.
A reality check
If you’ve made it this far, you might be ready to delete Instagram and scrap that dream of starting a YouTube channel. But don’t take this as all doom and gloom. I’ve focused here on the downsides. Put them next to the upsides, and for me, they only make up about 10% of the whole picture.
