Surgeon general wants social media warning labels

Hi Reader,

The US Surgeon General wants to slap red warning labels on Facebook, Insta, TikTok, and X.

Warnings like the ones you’ll read on packets of cigarettes, fatty foods, and bottles of booze.

Dr Vivek Murthy says TikTok-like platforms are causing a mental health crisis for young people.

(Who would have guessed all that doom scrolling was toxic?!)

Teenagers spend not one but FOUR hours a day madly swiping, scrolling, sharing, and liking.

It’s the same depressing story in Ireland.

The chief bottle washers here are pontificating about banning social media for those under 13.

They’re making guttural noises about bringing in a digital age of consent.

I’ve no idea how they’ll enforce anything like that.

I tried it.

I brought in a social media ban in our house.

No iPad for our youngest before school.

Screentime restrictions at night-time, too.

I used apps like Freedom to whisk the internet away first thing and late at night.

The kids weren’t happy.

Neither was I!

One of them found a way around my internet restrictions…

I also brought in some rules for me too.

You see…

A few months ago, I launched a new project: write daily on social media.

I wanted to grow my writing business with some juicy organic social traffic.

(If I’m honest, I wanted to go viral.)

I researched what other creators write about on X, LinkedIn, Insta, and Threads.

I decided to write on all these platforms as well.

I studied the top hooks, formats, headlines, and content types.

I interviewed a few top creators in my niche.

And I got to work.

But…

Chasing likes, shares, and views across multiple platforms burnt me out within weeks.

I spent more time eating out on other people’s content than writing my own.

Some of my content popped, but the experience still left me sick about my stats and engagement.

I felt like I’d shoveled McDonald’s down my gullet three times a day for weeks.

All that fatty social media content gave me a classic case of social media comparisonitis.

The cure?

A realization that I can’t eat out on likes, shares, and views alone.

All those vanity metrics won’t fuel a writing business.

Try it, and your cash flow will quickly dry up.

Sure, some social platforms will pay you to create content for them.

(I’ve earned some nice payouts from platforms like Medium over the years.)

But, payouts from partner programs are crumbs from the table.

Most creators on these platforms are underpaid.

These platforms tip their sudo-employees to work for them.

They keep the real wedge for themselves.

By all means, write on social.

But get those followers onto your email list.

Then, build your writing business.

I’m still working on a project: write for social media.

But I’ve slapped a red warning label across the tin.

Leave going viral to the Mr Beast's of this world.

Instead…

Create a product, a service or an offer that builds a business.

So why am I telling you all this?

I’m helping a select group of writers create revenue-generating assets for their businesses… and in less time.

It’s only for members of my Pro Writers Only community. Spots are closed right now, but you can reply to this email to get on the waitlist.

Write on,
Bryan Collins