24/04/2026
Authors are people, not products or performers. But social media turns us into something consumable, and that has the propensity to suck our humanity out of the equation even as it creates a parasocial relationship. In addition, the way readers connect to our work makes them feel as if they know us, which further blurs boundaries.
The result is that readers get disappointed and authors get abused or their boundaries get crossed. Interactions that should be innocent get misconstrued, and blame gets laid where it doesn’t belong.
So what do we do about it?