31/08/2026
Are we having conversations — or creating controversy?
I’ve noticed more and more posts appearing in my feed lately with headlines along the lines of “Floristry truths nobody wants to admit”, “You don’t need qualifications” or other deliberately contrary statements.
And it’s made me wonder about something.
When did having a conversation become the same thing as creating a controversy?
Of course we should question accepted ways of doing things. Floristry has changed enormously and there are plenty of old “rules” that deserve challenging. I certainly don’t believe there’s only one route into this industry, one way to run a floristry business or one definition of success.
But sometimes I wonder what the intention behind these posts actually is.
Is it to open up a useful discussion? Is it to reassure people that there are different ways of doing things? Or is the controversial statement itself becoming part of the marketing — something designed to generate comments, views and followers?
And there’s another part of this that I find interesting.
Sometimes the “unpopular opinion” being presented also happens to support whatever the person or business is selling.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. We all create content around the things we believe in, and ultimately most businesses use social media to promote what they do.
But I do think it’s worth recognising when an apparently provocative discussion is also positioning the person posting it — or their course, service or particular way of doing things — as the answer.
Because nuance doesn’t make a particularly good hook.
“You don’t need a formal qualification, but you do need to develop your knowledge, practical skills and experience” isn’t nearly as attention-grabbing as “You don’t need qualifications.”
“Your pricing needs to reflect your own costs, experience, overheads, market and business model” isn’t quite as clickable as “Stop looking at what other florists charge.”
The shorter, more controversial version gets the reaction. And perhaps that’s the bit that bothers me.
Social media rewards reaction. Agreement gets comments. Disagreement gets comments. Outrage gets even more. But does that necessarily make the conversation useful?
When complicated subjects are reduced to absolutes, we can end up dividing ourselves into camps when actually most of us probably occupy the enormous space somewhere in the middle.
And in an industry where so many people work alone, I think we should be particularly conscious of that. There’s already enough uncertainty around pricing, experience, training, sustainability, changing customer expectations and simply making a floristry business pay without making people feel they have to pick a side on everything.
I love a good floristry discussion. I think we need more of them, particularly at a time when our industry is changing so much.
But I’d rather we had conversations that made us think, rather than posts deliberately designed to make us react.
So perhaps the question isn’t always “Do you agree or disagree?”
Perhaps occasionally we should also ask:
“Why am I being asked this question — and what is it trying to make me do?”
