Burn out is real.

I’m feeling burn out... from social media.

LOL sorry if the my little insta post seemed dramatic, but META's algorithms love nothing more than drama. Plus I wanted to get you away from social media so I can vent about social media...Which brings me to today's discussion: How shit are algorithms? Very f #cking shit. 

Out of all the challenges I've had to face building Fair Bump, none have been more brutal than battling META and its algorithms. A big aspect of Fair Bump is cartoons and unfortunately, my cartoons aren't reaching you. Over the last couple of weeks I've conducted experiments so I can show you a glimpse at my daily battle with the algo. 

Below, on the left-hand side, is a screenshot of my instagram story featuring my cartoon seal. It reached just 69 of you within 24hours, that's less than 2% of my current 3691 instagram followers - that ain't a Fair Bump! I then shared the same image to my story a few days later, only this time with me cropped into frame (as seen below on the right-hand side). The algorithms bumped it to a lot more of you within the same 24hour time period, 526 of you. Still, 526 people is just under 15% of my overall 3961 followers:

Another example are posts. As you can see below, the post on the left featuring a collage of people reached 1,414 accounts while the post on the right featuring the latest comic reached only 507 accounts (after multiple reshares). 

You would think, that in an ocean of iNfLuEnCeRs and selfies that my unique cartoon cOnTeNt would stand out and be bumped to my followers, lol nope. The algorithm pushes CoNtEnT that features people, which is fine though unfortunately my art (which in-between juggling life, printing and markets can take hours, days, weeks or more to complete) is pushed to only 15% of you if I'm lucky - and dats messed up.  

Ever since launching Fair Bump in 2022, this has been a daily battle. I now often find myself stalling because I know that every time I share a cartoon, comic or new design the algorithm will bury it. This toxic cycle of creating, sharing and reaching no one has taken a huge toll on my mental health, thus resulting in some serious burn out. 

I was pretty close to giving up this time last year. 2022, 2023 and most of 2024 was brutal and I felt that maybe my art sucked. My last ditch effort was to hit the markets and I'm so glad I did. Seeing in real time with my own eyes that people do like my art gives me so much validation, motivation and more important happiness. I realised I'm not the problem, social media and its shitty algorithms are the problem. 

While Fair Bump is a clothing brand, it's also a bit more than just a clothing brand.

Fair Bump is a never ending story, a hand-drawn gateway to an imaginary world filled with whacky characters and I need to change my battle plan so that those of you who want to see this imaginary world actually see it. I understand if I twerked or did a cringe dance, I might go viral and be seen - but I’m not a CoNtEnT cReAtOr and I have no desire to be an iNfLuEnCeR, i'm an artist. I make art and I make art for people to see, not to not be seen. 

If you'd LIKE to FOLLOW the STORIES that I'm trying to SHARE through this little brand of mine, sign up to the Newsletter below (Also check your inbox for a confirmation email). Moving forward, I'll be sharing the comics exclusively through the newsletter, as well as new designs and whatever else pops into my head.

I'm not leaving social media, I'll keep posting (maybe I’ll do a cringe dance) though if you want to see my art and the world I'm building, the newsletter is what you should follow.

I really hope to see you there! I have so much I want to show yah.

Fair Bump
- Ryan x