“The Person Who Tagged You in This Post Wants You to Know That They Admire You and Your Work”

I have an idea about how you can make someone’s day while connecting us all with writers and artists we will love!

Hi friends!

Over on love & liberation daily’s TikTok, I created a video where I encouraged people to give a shoutout and a public thank you to a creator in their network who is doing great work but isn’t receiving enough public appreciation, reach, or gratitude for their creations.

It was a really sweet exercise and allowed me to connect with some new content creators who are doing awesome work but don’t have the same reach as LLD does. I was able to repost them to my 43,700+ followers and boost them, even just a little bit, in TikTok’s competitive algorithm.

It also gave me the chance to engage with the work of people who aren’t flooding my FYP, like the quiet, slow tenacity of a BIPOC soccer coach teaching resilience and team-building through her favorite sport, and the sweet, enduring compassion of a retired teacher who runs an Etsy shop that donates all its proceeds to humanitarian aid organizations.

I thought it would be fun to do the same exercise here on Medium, either in the comments or in quotes to this post on Notes. Whatever you prefer sounds great to me.

My only ask is that you send a shoutout to a writer or artist whose work you love, at any stage in their journey, and write them a thoughtful public message of encouragement and thank them for their work.

By tagging them, this will totally make their day and connect us, love & liberation daily readers, with someone’s work we might not yet have had the pleasure of knowing and loving.

I hope you’ll participate, as I believe exercises like this are good for our souls. Our hearts, minds, and spirits need constant re-centering, reminders to practice gratitude, and reminders to use our voices to uplift and amplify others. Join me!

Here’s the TikTok for anyone curious:

and here’s a text transcript of the TikTok, if you would prefer to not engage with that platform directly (totally understandable!)

My friends, I need your help with something, and I want you to tag the person in the comments who comes to mind.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this quote from Toni Morrison and the ways that I can more often empower others using my power and privilege, however small it may be in the world.

Here on TikTok, I have many followers, and my videos often go viral. I have a significant amount of TikTok influence. I want to use that influence to uplift people who may not have as many followers or get as many views but are doing amazing work and deserve our support.

I aim to follow these people, like their videos, engage with them, and repost them to my page so they get seen by more people. I want to uplift, amplify, and encourage them. What’s the point of having a bunch of followers or TikTok influence if you don’t use it to lift up people doing great things?

To me, it’s essential to use it for good. So, I want you to tag someone that comes to mind. It can be multiple people, a friend, or just someone you see working hard, doing great work in activism, writing, art, or crafts of any kind.

Someone who isn’t receiving the love and vibrancy they deserve, someone who needs more love and deserves more praise. Tag them in the comments, write a nice note to them, and take a moment out of your day to do so.

Then all of us can go follow and support them. I will do my best to follow them, repost their work on my page, and check out what they’re doing. It can be any category, any type of creator who isn’t getting the recognition they deserve.

Maybe they have a small group of supporters, but you want to shout them out, saying they deserve even more. They’re doing amazing work, their art is fantastic, and they deserve to go viral. Whatever it might be, this is the chance to spread some love and kindness.

I want to follow these people, engage with them, support them, and be their cheerleaders. And I want to give you the opportunity to do the same. We can create a list in the comments together, then go follow and hype up these people.

Think about how much it would make someone’s day if you took a moment to write to someone whose account you love, just to say, “Thank you for the work you do. I love your art so much.”

Even if they are already being seen by many people, take a moment to tag them and say, “Thank you so much. Your content means a lot to me.”

This is beneficial for all of us, as that person receives encouragement from you, and we all get to discover someone cool to follow and support.

Help me with this project. Let’s do this together. Toni Morrison is right. Once you get power, it’s your job to empower someone else.

I may not have a lot of power, but what I do have is significant. 43,700+ followers and 13,700,000+ million likes are not insignificant.

So, how can I use whatever clout I have on TikTok (and Medium) for good? And how can you do the same?