A year or so ago I was chatting with Jonathan Friedman and he said something like, “Instragram is now a perfectly valid performing venue…”. He’s 100% correct. Social media magic has really launched the career, or kept them going for many magicians.
Shin Lim is a good example of this. His fanbase is HUGE outside of magicians. He’s using magic trick to keep people who follow him engaged and promote upcoming shows. A lot of the stuff he’s doing is social media only content. It’s stuff that he’s really not going to do in a show, it’s just to reach or connect with fans.
On a smaller scale than Shin Lim, I do this. The main reason is to give me an outlet for ideas. Things that I know I’ll never really do in a show. Here’s a good example:
Having a reason to work out little ideas and a place to share them is great. I’ve had a couple of ideas I’ve posted videos of get big responses, and I’ve figured out ways to work them into the show.
The moral of the story is to not be upset with social media magic tricks, they have place and a purpose. You need to grow with the times and stop being a dinosaur!