The Trickster Diaries/Chapter 61

I signed on, created a succinct, honest profile, an avatar — a rather flattering b&w self portrait — and stayed up till 3AM uploading a few images of my work, searching other people’s channels, getting used to the system.
First impressions were tough unraveling but the site seemed made up almost entirely of artists, designers, photographers, writers, musicians — or people embedded somewhere in the peripheries of the art world.
Of the hundreds I searched, only two seemed worth following: a photographer from Istanbul, Turkey, and a painter from The Canary Islands. Fascinating, unique, deep, rich stuff.
So I follow them. And immediately they start following me. I look at the clock and think: “Oh yeah, whole nuther time zone where they are.” Then I think: “Right. That’s how it’s played. You WANT to be followed, just like you WANT to be asked to the high school prom. It’s a popularity thing. I get it. They say thanks by following you back, even if your shit doesn’t interest them.”
Then the email “Ding” starts going off because that’s how Ello lets you know about activity on or about your channel, the comments you post, so on.
Goodnight, Ello.