THREAD: Stuff like this upsets me. In this particular case because it’s an artist who does really wonderful work. For whatever reason doing wonderful work doesn’t always equate with social media engagement. BUT IT SHOULD. Worst of all, Twitter is purposely designed this way(cont) https://twitter.com/jen_illustrates/status/1345835124915580930

The algorithms are skewed to favour “debate and discussion”. Which is why controversy-stirring tweets always do much better than a beautiful piece of art. It’s a lot easier to build a following by being a racist scumbag than by being a hard-working artist. We can’t change

the algorithms, but we can push back a little. If you like an artist’s work, TELL THEM. I know it can be hard to find new things to say, and can feel a bit, shall we say, awkward , to ALWAYS be the one to comment on someone’s work, always saying the same thing, because,

let’s face it, there are only so many ways to say “this is really nice, I like it”. But let me tell you something from the artist’s perspective: WE DON’T MIND. At all. Quite the opposite. We love it when someone responds to what we do, even if they run out of new ways to say it..

I see the same few faces commenting on my work, time after time. Do I get bored of it? Does it lose its impact? Do I take it for granted? No, no and NO. These people are THE BEST. Any artist here will tell you the same thing. So don’t feel embarrassed by your relentless comments

and don’t feel that they don’t make a difference. They do. Oh, and don’t rely on Twitter showing you an artist work, just because you follow them. I miss loads of great stuff by artists I follow (including @Jen_Illustrates ) because the algorithms would apparently rather I saw

Nigel Farage’s leering grin than artists who actually DO make the world a better place and aren’t poisonous fascist ****s... but I digress . So remember to actively check up on what your favourite artists are doing, and post a comment, not just a “like”. Let’s make those nasty

comment-favouring algorithms work for the artists we admire. That’s it. Thanks for coming to my TED talk. And please go follow @Jen_Illustrates and tell her how flipping great her work is. For me.