It was an eventful 3 months plus into lemon8 🍋
Being relatively new to lemon8 🍋, i didn’t expect my post on my 55k wedding would catch the attention of Zula. I was pleasantly surprised and elated, as it means my content has gained some attention and are relevant to people’s interest
After some brief questions with them on what the content will be about, I gave them the permission to write, but on the condition that they would only use my lemon8 username
In a week’s time the article went live on their website, telegram and Facebook. The article emphasises on over-stretching wedding budget for a once in a lifetime event. It was really far from my intention😒😒, which is to not be bogged down by the common narrative of “spending less than xxx for our wedding” and instead to focus on deciding if each purchase is valuable (or worth it).
Immediately, comments and debates sprung out in many places, such as Facebook and HardwareZone forums, and other news outlet like mustsharenews (on their FB page)
All the comments were unpleasant and are quite hurting, as many were deeply concern about us promoting “frivolous” spending to the public and not adhering to the initial budget.
NGL, it didn’t feel good at all, and had initial thoughts to confront and clarify with Zula on the content.
Instead of dwelling on the situation, I thought maybe to just make good use of this opportunity to create some stuff out of it 🙂🙂
1️⃣ I immediately fill up the gaps in the original post to clear any misunderstandings
As I share mainly personal finance content, I was low-key worried that the narrative that I am spending my money frivolous being put out by them would reduce my credibility on this space. I analysed my post and noticed some gaps (such as the budget increase) was not explained in detail.
Hence, I immediately reacted with a post to fill up the gaps that was not addressed in the original post (i.e the initial budget of 20k).
There were many other things to clarify but I specifically chose this to clear as it resonated with what I am intending to share on lemon8 🍋
2️⃣ I didn’t waste my energy trying to fight back
I know I would be in a losing battle, as content posted here is considered public, and they are able to freely to write an article about it. This is according to previous similar experiences shared by other creators on lemon8 whom had their posts being reported on.
Moreover, different past experiences shared by creators here show that that it is hard to get them to take down the original article, and at most they would only amend slightly your article, or delink your content. By the time such amendments happen, the article would have already garnered massive attention and following, which already would have achieved the news outlet’s objective.
Additionally, with the above conversation with Zula, I had weaker grounds to push back on their article, be it to take it down or them to issue clarification, as they can always say that permission was given to them and I that I have checked content with them (albeit it not being a thorough check 🙃🙃)
3️⃣ Making a most out of this situation
If they can write about my post, I can write about them too. right? 😉 But I chose to write about the comments instead, cos some are just kinda hilarious HAHAHAHAHA.
I am also able to share my perspective on the different issues brought out in the comments on SG weddings. Although these comments are nasty in nature, it is a real reflection of the current wedding landscape and society’s sentiments to weddings as a guest.
In addition, I am able to touch on topics such as justifying one’s expenses (#girlmath), and the recent incident involving mothership through this experience
4️⃣ Continue my usual stuff
Even now, it was really tough to even speak about my wedding on my lemon8 platform. Let alone to share any personal finance content (who will trust anyone who “burst” their “initial” wedding budget?)
After much analysis, and realising the gross misrepresentation of my post, I plucked the courage to continue posting personal finance related topics. I reckoned that many of the tips I shared were previously taught to me by renowned finance books, people and my own experience, and that the truth will eventually reveal if my sharing are indeed accurate or not.
5️⃣ Sharing the experience, learnings and tips to the wider community
It is about sharing with everyone to be aware that such things can happen when you chose to put your content out here, and how to react accordingly.
It was a total new experience for me as I have never created such extensive content to the public (lemon8 being my first!). I wasn’t aware fully the consequences of allowing media to report on my post w/o proper checks. And I believe many on this platform are the same boat too.
With this experience, I shared some of my insights on how to protect yourself online, and how to react when your post is on the news, and people are reacting negatively towards it. .
NGL, the space outside lemon8 🍋 is much harsher and less forgiving, so we need to cherish the space here 😇😇
💭 Final thoughts
I am thankful for this opportunity to be able to experience, learn and share this journey.
Hopefully none of the creators here will end up with this messy situation!
Here are the related posts:
✉️Original post: We spent 55k on our wedding, and we are ok with it
✉️Clarification post
✉️Insights on the current weddings in SG from comments
✉️ Insights on justifying one’s spendings (#girlmath)
✉️ Insights on news outlets reporting on creators content
✉️How are we able to spend 55k on our wedding
✉️Our full 55k wedding expense breakdown
✉️What to do when your post is on the news
✉️Ways to protect yourself from harsh comments online
(This will be my last focused post on this topic as it sort of concluded the whole event 🤪🤪)
