How a failed experiment changed how I approach social media

Exploring the super nerdy and fringe intersection where being a creator meets the systems and processes of data-driven tech company

The epic fail

In 2024, I did a 6 month experiment where I hired someone to run my instagram and post everyday because I heard “consistency” was what mattered. “Just show up, be yourself, people will come.” I did all the content development in a 2-3 hour session twice a month and then gave it to them just to post.

I started the experiment at 2,122 followers and, after 6 months, had 2103.

Yes, you read that right. By showing up, being myself, and posting consistently, I LOST 19 followers. So apparently, myself sucked and it felt like a pretty big hit. I’m a creator. Everyone tells me that I need to grow my platform in order to have an audience, but I do the things and then I freaking LOSE followers. What gives?

I almost gave up. I thought I did, actually, but the issue was, my ultimate goal was/is to have an audience for my music and books. There’s no way around it. Every “me in 5 years” has an audience that connects with the things I make and if I don’t do it, no one will.

So, I finally regulated my feelings and then, instead of complaining that no matter what I do on social media, I can’t grow, I set out to find out how and why people grow.

The spark

I’ve worked a full time job in tech for about 10 years. For the last 5, I’ve worked on a “design system team.” For non-techies, these are the people responsible for creating reusable components that other designers can use to build their product. I also create processes and standards so a design can stay consistent as the product is built. In summary, I make reusable stuff that helps others work faster, because they have clearer structures to operate in.

In October of last year, a friend who’s had fantastic success with music marketing sat down with me outta the kindness of his heart and answered a bunch of my desperate questions about how to “do” social media. My shock was, the words and concepts he used to describe what he was doing were the same words I used in my day-to-day work.

And I had an idea that coincided with my push to learn how to “do” social media.

What if I used my design system team/UX design skills which are literally making reusable systems that make things consistent and help people move faster to inform my creator marketing? It seemed like such a no brainer that I felt a little embarrassed for never having the idea before.

The experiment 2.0

So, I designed a new experiment based around this concept: If I were to approach social media like I do building products on a design team, what would change?

Almost a year into the experiment, the answer is a lot.

A lot.

Why this experiment matters to you

What I’ve learned about being a creator in the modern algo-driven age will likely be VERY depressing to some, freeing to others. In some ways, I’ve been able to simply be fascinated by it because it scratches the same itch that drew me to the type of design work I do in my full time job. Data. Systems. Patterns. Ways of thinking. Frameworks. To operate in this space, I’ve had to firmly separate my creative self from the systems-self. The systems-self is who’s in charge of social media. The creative self is in charge of making good and beautiful things. They influence each other, but they both have very specific jobs to do.

Here’s the deal. Like it or not, we all know that if you want to gain an audience and make a living doing what we’re passionate about, then we need to use social media. There are some people who choose not to engage or play by their own rules and still “blow up.” Attention just falls on them as if directed by some supernatural force, but, despite how often we FEEL like we see this, this is rarely, like 0.1% of what’s happening. What’s more likely is that the person who “blew up” put in the work to understand how social media works and figured out a system that works for them, stayed at it, and they finally caught traction.

In the end, it comes down to systems. Why? Because social media is driven by algorithms and what is an algorithm?

An algorithm is a finite, ordered set of rules or instructions that a system follows to transform inputs into outputs.

Aka it’s a computer.

Creators know this, but do we really know this? Do we really know what this means for how what we do translates as a computer input?

Again, this might be a depressing idea, but it is what it is and we either adapt or change the system. I can’t afford to build my own social media platform, so adapt it is.

Say hello to the creator system nerd

I’ve posted a bit about all of this on my social media and every time I do, someone slides into my DMs asking me about it. “What do you mean ‘content system’” or “what do you mean reusable components?”

That, and, while I’ve been on a deep dive in algos and creator marketing all for a year now, what’s bonkers to me is am STILL learning foundational things that people simply gloss over when they’re talking about how to “do” social media. And I’ve only learned them by experimenting, failing, then testing a hypothesis of why it failed.

I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon, so I’ve decided to document my journey, my growth, practices, and experiments, and all I’m learning about all of it in The Creator System Nerd. A new “segment” in The Rabbit Hole Newsletter.

If this sounds like something you’d love to learn about, or just watch my journey, then please subscribe and stick around. However, just a warning, in 2026, I do plan on making this segment only available for paid subscribers of The Rabbit Hole.

Don’t worry, I’ll continue to release the curiosity mixtapes of The Rabbit Hole for freeee. Okay, that’s all for now!

Go make beautiful things,

Dave Connis