What it's like to have 1M followers
An interview with content creator Lydia Keating
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Lydia Keating is a content creator with 1.3M followers across TikTok and Instagram. She’s also a writer and MFA student. After meeting her on this podcast and reading her fascinating Slate piece about the complexities of social media influencing, I knew I wanted to chat with her. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did!
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Me:
Thank you so much for being here, Lydia! Could you talk a little bit about how you got started in content creation?
Lydia:
I've always been into comedy. I moved to LA originally to be a comedy TV writer, and I was on the standard path for that, but really saw that that path was gonna be quite a long one. So I started doing standup as a way to keep the creative juices alive, and I became really obsessed with it. I was going to open mics for hours every night, but then the pandemic happened and live stages obviously were closed.
I had realized that being funny was a muscle, and I was like, okay, how am I going to keep this muscle sharp if I don't have open mics to go to? So, I started making comedic content online. At first, I was mostly on Instagram, but I wasn’t really growing. Then I created a TikTok account. Actually, this video I posted on TikTok was one that I was too embarrassed to put on Instagram because I didn’t think it was very funny. And it got, like, 3 million views in 24 hours.
So it was a classic story of a viral video, which I think was the big allure of TikTok in 2020. At that time, on TikTok, if a video was funny or entertaining enough it could take off. So that's what happened to me.
Me:
What was that experience like, when you realized you were getting all these views in such a short amount of time after posting it?
Lydia:
Well, I was kind of thinking, oh my gosh, this is my big break. I think that’s a little naive in retrospect, because people can have these one-off viral videos and then never create a following or anything.
Then, I took a leap of faith about a year ago, and really tried to pivot into being more of a lifestyle influencer. I was seeing these influencers on TikTok, clearly working with brands and making money, and I was like, I can do that. And so I very consciously made the switch to go into more of the lifestyle influencer space.
Me:
I'm curious about, for people who don't necessarily understand (myself included) how it works to be a content creator, what is your typical day? How do you make money doing this? Maybe you could give just a general overview of how it works.
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Lydia:
In terms of my day structure, I’m still trying to figure that out! Every time I open my phone and go on TikTok, I think my brain kind of turns to a little bit of mush. So I have been trying to, right when I get up, not touch my phone at all for three to four hours. After that, I’ll start my content creation of the day, and I'm trying to make at least three videos a day on TikTok.
The way I make money is that I have a manager, and I have my email in my bio. So I get emails from brands saying they want to work with me to make a video. Depending on what the deliverables are, whether it's a TikTok video, Instagram post, or Instagram story, they negotiate the price with my manager. Then I'm usually sent a deck that has all the talking points and the product information.
From the time the brand reaches out to the time I post the video, it’s typically about a month. And it all depends on how many times brands reach out to me, but I probably do an average of three brand collabs per month.
Me:
And how long does each video take you to make, typically?
Lydia:
Well, it depends. Sometimes I do some cooking content and if cooking a meal takes 30 minutes, having to film it takes about an hour. But one of my videos that did well yesterday, which was me just talking about what being in a long-term relationship is like, I just filmed that off the cuff. That took less than 60 seconds to make, and that video got a lot of traction.
It’s really frustrating when you spend a lot of time on a video and it tanks, but it's also really exciting when you're like, oh, that was such an easy video to make.
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Me:
I'm imagining that it must be a little bit of a roller coaster to be monitoring each of the videos and how they do. How do you handle that?
Lydia:
Well, I think it's really unhealthy. I'll be on the app and reloading it, and I think it's sick, honestly. So usually, if I'm very disciplined, I'll make a video, put my phone away and not check my phone until a couple hours later. Yesterday, I was in such a hole, and I couldn't stop reloading the page. It's crazy how these apps really are so addictive.
Me:
And I think they feel addictive for the average person using them, but when it's your job…I mean, just the scale of the number of notifications and feedback you're getting is so much greater. I imagine it's even more extreme.
Lydia:
Yeah. I think you're probably right about that.
Me:
I’m also curious about the general experience of being a content creator with this many followers on TikTok. How do you decide what to share and not to share? Are there things that you've decided are too personal?
Lydia:
That's a really good question, and I feel like it's always evolving for me. I think in the past five months, I have been pretty conservative about how much I give on my platform, because I think comment culture has escalated and become more and more toxic. You get so much hate. I’ve thought, all right, I'm only gonna do the most simple, vanilla content. Like, who could criticize, get ready with me in my outfit for my run? And people still find a way to criticize it. But when it's less personal content and someone's commenting hate, I don't mind as much because I'm like, okay, you're just clearly a sad person.
But recently, I've had more time on my hands because I've been out of classes, and I've been playing around with my content on the app more. The content I like making most is the content that feels most genuine–like how I am with my friends. So, I've been like, you know what, I'm going to be as personal and as authentic as I want to be, and if people comment hate, okay, well, this is who I am, and this is what you get. If you don't like that, then you don't have to be here.
I made a sandwich two days ago and the comments were like, She didn't butter her toast! What are you doing?? You idiot! And I'm just like, what is going on? Now I'm just numb to it.
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Me:
I've wondered about that. It seems like it's sort of this natural byproduct as you get more and more of a following on these platforms that within those millions of people who are following you, there’s a certain percentage who are going to be negative, no matter what you post.
Do you feel like there are certain kinds of content where you do get more negativity? Is there a way to avoid that? Or do you think it just comes with the territory?
Lydia:
Sometimes it's so unexpected. I don't know…
Me:
Like the sandwich…
Lydia:
Yeah, I didn't think I was gonna get hate on my sandwich video, but somehow…You know, people find a way to call out flaws or problems that wouldn't even cross your mind.
There was actually this creator who made this video and someone commented, you're really brave for showing your legs that way. And she was like, I thought I had great legs, and now I get a comment like that!
It's those little comments where it's like, how did they pull that out from the sky? And now it's my deepest insecurity! People fabricate things to pick on. I think any video can get hate and you just never know.
Me:
Do you ever feel like TikTok and your presence online bleeds into your day-to-day, offline life at all?
Lydia:
Oh, I mean, the two are totally in tango. The simplest example is my running content. I like to work out everyday for mental health reasons, and sometimes I just know I need to get out the door and go for a run because I can just feel my brain depleting. But I'll be like, oh, but I need to film myself putting on my outfit for my run. This was a big issue last summer. I felt almost guilty going for a run– this is so ridiculous–and not making a get ready with me video of the run. So this summer, if making the TikTok is the reason why I'm not going to get out the door to go for a run, then I just won’t make the TikTok.
This is why I'm trying to take a step back from more of the lifestyle content, because it feels like people on TikTok are up in my business now. I did it to myself, but people know what I'm up to, and they know how I'm conducting myself, and the constant critique of it is exhausting. I really hope in a year from now (or okay, maybe two years), this isn't the main thing I'm doing. Because I can't live that way– always filming every part of my life.
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Me:
Yeah. It's so interesting because when some of your job is to showcase what you're doing in your day-to-day life, it must be really hard to just live your day-to-day life, knowing that you're supposed to be projecting it for other people to see. It must be hard to know where to draw the line on what to put out there.
When you say that it feels like people almost know too much about you or are kind of in your business... Is there anything that happened that made you feel that way?
Lydia:
I think it's not a singular moment, but it's seeing someone who I haven't seen in awhile and I'm like, they know what I've been up to. For example, our neighbors don't spend the winters here, but they come back in the summer, and I know some of them follow me on TikTok. I'm not that close with them, so when I see them, I'm like, ugh, they know! They've seen those videos. And it just makes me wish they didn't know so much about me.
There seems to be such an inequality in how much they know about me versus what I know about them. It almost feels like a loss of power.
Me:
Yeah! There is that power differential when people know more about you than you know about them. This is a kind of a weird connection, but as a therapist, sometimes that’s something we think about. Like, I’m working with this patient and I know so much about them, I know so much about their lives, and they don't know anything about me. And that does create a power differential that can be really hard to navigate.
Is there anything that you think people don't understand or get wrong about being a content creator?
Lydia:
I think there's a lot of misconceptions in how people perceive it, but honestly what it boils down to, if you're a content creator and you're working with brands, is it's marketing. It's just a new form of marketing that's a little more personal. People don’t get that it’s fully an industry where people have long careers. I personally don't want that, but I think, generally, people don’t understand that it’s a legitimate thing.
There's a stigma attached to influencing. I think a lot of the reason why influencing is not considered a real career or why there are a lot of negative stereotypes attached to it is it's a business dominated by women. And I think that there's a lot of misogyny in the way people talk about influencers.
Me:
Yeah. I've thought a lot about how maybe sexism plays a role in it. So many content creators are women, and it feels sometimes there's this dismissal of how this is a real career and this is the way that people are making money. There’s a bit of undermining of it.
Okay, last question! One of the things that I talk a lot about on Techno Sapiens is both the benefits and the harms of social media. And I'm curious, for you, what do you feel like are some of the benefits of social media? And then we've talked about some of the harms for you, but maybe you could elaborate on those a little more?
Lydia:
I think the benefits are that it is a huge source of knowledge and information. A lot of people use TikTok for educational purposes, and when it's an account led by someone who’s actually an expert and can speak with authority on a subject, that's great! For example, I'm always on Therapy TikTok, and there are accounts like, I'm a licensed psychologist! But that exists for everything—like, if you're into space, I'm sure there's Space TikTok. I think there's something really mind-expanding about seeing, even on the daily vlog type of content, how other people live their lives and getting inspiration from that. Seeing someone wake up at five and have a really productive morning and then being like, I'm gonna wake up at five and have a productive morning!
However, in that same vein, I don't think humans are supposed to know what hundreds of other people are doing for their morning routines. I don't need to know what some girl in California is spending her mornings. I think there's something super detrimental about that occupying so much mind space. There are also the more obvious problems with being on the Internet and having a life on the Internet, which many people, especially young people, do. They’re exposed to so much criticism. People can say whatever they want on there, and there's no accountability.
Me:
It's so complicated, and that's why I think these conversations are so interesting. Lydia, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate you being here!
Lydia:
Thank you!
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