Why Start a Podcast? The Benefits (and Pitfalls) of Social Media

Well, as if I don’t have anything else to do, I am starting a podcast.

What makes people need to express themselves on social media, even if no one is listening? I can’t speak for others, but here is where it started for me:

My Social Media History

Caveat: I am 65 years old and didn’t grow up with the ability to reach out and interface with people I don’t know.

My first website was my company site in about 1997. There was no way to get feedback from people who visited unless they called me.

I joined MySpace somewhere around 2004. I put some of my music there and met a few people I didn’t know.

I joined Facebook in 2009 and connected with family and friends, including a bunch of my kid’s friends. I still generally only connect with people who I know personally there. I also started a Facebook group called The Automation Academy in 2021, it is nearly useless but has grown to about 8700 members. I have to approve every post or comment there because of the spam.

I also joined Linked In in 2009. My initial contacts were people from work or people I had worked with previously. Now it has become a method of connecting with people in my industry even if I don’t know them well or at all. And yes, a potential sales tool. Somehow I have attracted “followers” who seem to just be interested in what I do. I also started a company page there in about 2015.

I created this blog in 2011 when I was still working for Wright Industries. I had just learned what a blog was after reading Tim Ferriss and Chris Guillebeau’s books, and felt like I needed a place to put my technical notes. Soon after I started compiling the notes into a book, which was published by McGraw-Hill in 2013.People do occasionally comment or send me e-mails because of it, and it seems to have decent traffic.

In 2021 I started my Automation Academy training site under the umbrella of my company website. The main reason was the pandemic taking away some of my in-person training options. As part of the site, it was important to create an in-person interface with members, so I started the Mastering the Machine webinar on YouTube (I started putting a few videos out there in 2015).

The Podcast

Which brings me to my new podcast, which should be released in a month or so. I titled it “Mastering the Machine” also because someone told me they thought my webinar sounded like a good name for a podcast…

Unlike all of the other social media platforms I have used, this will be used expressly for promoting my business ventures. I am getting professional help in putting it together, of course coming up with topics that are appealing to my audience is very important.

A big difference between this and the webinar I post on YouTube is the RSS feed/subscribe aspect. This also requires consistent e-mail updates and presence on different channels.

The Psychology (with help from my friend Claude…)

Ever wonder why people keep posting on social media even when they barely have any followers? It turns out there are some pretty basic human reasons behind this behavior.

Humans are wired for social connection through what psychologists call our “belongingness need.” Social media platforms exploit this by creating the illusion of connection even in isolation. The simple act of posting creates a sense of reaching out into the social world, satisfying our tribal instincts even when we’re physically alone. This explains why people continue posting to empty feeds – the behavior itself fulfills a psychological function, independent of actual engagement.

The “imagined audience” phenomenon is particularly powerful here. Even with zero followers, people often write as if they’re addressing friends, family, or like-minded individuals. This mental audience provides the social context our brains crave, making the act of posting feel inherently social even when it’s technically solitary.

The Expression Compulsion

The need for self-expression runs deeper than vanity or attention-seeking. It’s about identity formation and validation. Social media provides a digital stage for what psychologists call “identity work” – the ongoing process of constructing and refining our sense of self. Each post is essentially asking: “Does this version of me resonate with the world?”

This ties into our fundamental need for agency and autonomy. Having a public voice, even a small one, creates a sense of influence and control. In a world where many people feel powerless in their daily lives, social media offers a space where they can shape their narrative and potentially impact others.

The Dopamine Dance

The intermittent reinforcement of likes, comments, and shares creates a powerful psychological loop. But interestingly, even without feedback, the act of creating and sharing content triggers dopamine release. The anticipation of potential connection or recognition can be as rewarding as actual engagement. This explains why people continue posting even when response rates are low.

The Pitfalls of Public Expression

The dark side emerges when external validation becomes the primary motivation. The constant comparison with others’ curated highlights can fuel anxiety and depression. The “context collapse” of social media – where family, friends, colleagues, and strangers all exist in the same digital space – creates pressure to maintain a sanitized, universally appealing persona that may feel inauthentic.

There’s also the paradox of choice overload. With infinite possibilities for self-presentation, many people become paralyzed by the pressure to post something “worthy” or fear judgment for their choices.

The Deeper Truth

At its core, social media behavior reflects our ancient need to be seen, heard, and understood. Even posting to an empty room fulfills our deep-seated desire to leave a mark, to say “I was here, I had thoughts, I mattered.” It’s a digital version of cave paintings – a fundamentally human impulse to document our existence and share our inner world with others, real or imagined.