The problem for Babs is that in most industries, there’s an unofficial trifecta: being great at your job; being willing (and able) to develop; and being likeable (or at least not unlikeable). If you can tick off two of those, then you’re generally going to be ok. If you can only tick off one, you’re going to struggle and be cut less slack. You might be rubbish at your job but willing to improve and a good team player – people will give you a fair bit of leeway. If you’re rubbish at your job AND snippy then regardless of how much you want to improve, people will not really be that arsed about supporting you. There’s obvious exceptions in particular industries where someone is supremely talented or a real leader in their field but sadly for Babs, social media isn’t one of those industries and she’s not one of those people.
She’s not great at her job. We know she’s not because if she was she wouldn’t keep having hissy fits/”breaks”/being babied by Stephen etc. She’d just get on with her job, pull back where she needs to but not really make a massive deal of it ALL THE TIME.
I’ve said before, I initially followed her as I thought she was relatable – same kind of age, my kids are slightly older, same kind of body and fluctuating size, same dress sense even(!). I unfollowed mainly because of the use of her kids, but also because of her lies bizarre interpretations and simply, her main selling point to me was being relatable and she’s absolutely not relatable to me in the ways that count. Yeah we have similar dress sense (I’ve actually got the same dress she’s worn on one of her recent grid photos) but I genuinely do not know another woman our age who acts like she does. When I think of my friends, colleagues and relatives, not one of them goes on about Disney, or Take That or obsesses about Primark because they are functioning adults who are smart and funny and don’t confuse being RABID about things with having a personality. If my back-of-an-envelope estimates of how much she earns are right, we probably have around the same household income – I’m her target market yet she’s the antithesis of what I’d be inspired by. (For the record, I’m good at my job, enjoy it and have never ever had to flounce off for days – if I did, I’d question how well suited I was.)
She is thoroughly disingenuous. “Oh look at me suddenly with 111k followers, sometimes things are too much for me because people are mean to me and I just want to have a happy corner of the internet”. She has thrown herself at building her following, piggybacking onto other influencers and happy to pocket the ad money which has followed, no doubt using what she’s picked up in her former PR job. But when your following grows and you monetise it, responsibility comes with that, but also, she should realise that as her audience expands, so does the likelihood that the guff she posts without thinking (or bothering to think) is going to hurt someone or she is going to be pulled up on her tone deaf/ill-informed “content” – she can’t do that though, and she cries TROLLS and then has a dramatic flounce. She never seems to reflect and grow – she has no desire (or ability?) to develop and I go back to the trifecta – if she’s good at her job and likeable then she can get away with not developing, and well I suppose her follower count suggests some people find her likeable (and tbf, I don’t think she’s malevolent, just self-centred, ignorant and stupid) but she is always going to struggle with this. She is always going to mess up. She is always going to have her hissy fits. She will never wonder why people with far larger followings have far fewer issues – so much easier to cry troll than admit your lack of interest in anything outside of your bubble leaves you ignorant and ill-equipped to deal with challenges. If her following keeps growing, she’s going to be more and more exposed and frankly, she can’t/won’t cope with it.
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x
). I’m working hard. We are making it work. Like loads of other people working at home x
) gave her a massive advantage over her other mum instagrammer friends.