A Social Media Rethink
Social media is a big factor in every photographer’s life. It’s both a blessing and curse. At its best, it is engaging, informative, and educational. At its worst, it is addictive, time-wasting, toxic, and replaces personal interaction.
As Thanksgiving week (Happy Thanksgiving BTW) is a slow week for many things, I’ve decided to use the down time to rethink my social media use and to make some changes. Below is a summary of what’s going on.
Vero
Since early this year Vero has been my primary social media platform for my photos. I previously posted about my switch to Vero from Instagram. So far, I happy with Vero for the most part. The sense of community is one major positive item. I’ve gotten to know a number of great photographers there and have learned a lot from them. The lack of advertising and no algorithm deciding what you see is another a great feature that I like.
The downside with Vero are the “likes” and the use of “hubs” which operate in a similar manner to Instagram. The system of likes is addictive and how the social media sites keep you coming back. They get you constantly looking for that supposed positive feedback. Sadly, it often doesn’t mean that someone actually likes your photo. It is in reality most often just a recognition that they’ve seen your photo and liked it with the hope that you’ll like their photos in return. Both Vero and Instagram make it incredibly easy to mindlessly like a lot of photos very quickly. Click, click, click. A lot of activity for no real reason.
Hubs are groups that if you use their hashtag, they might re-publish your photo to their much larger audience. The assumption is that if your photo gets chosen it is an indication it was thought to be a good photo. While some hubs are selective based on the merit of the photo, others are all-inclusive similar with everyone eventually getting a participation award. You have to be selective on which hubs you want to join if you’re expecting true feedback.
The other assumed advantage of using a hub is that by exposing a wider audience to your photos you will grow your number of followers. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. People will like and comment on the hub’s post but very few make the effort to come look at your posts because of the hub post. If they can’t just click, click, click they aren’t interested.
I’m going to keep using Vero because I really like the sense of community. I will, however, reduce the number of hubs that I follow to those that introduce me to great photographers. I also plan to be more judicious in giving likes by only giving them when I really do enjoy the image.
Glass
Glass may be my newest BFF. I’ve just joined Glass so BFF status may be a bit premature but I’m hopeful. Like Vero it does have a real sense of community. Similar to likes, you can give “appreciations” if you like a photo. However, appreciations work very differently. First, Glass doesn’t tally appreciations, you never see a count of how many you’ve received or how many someone else’s photo has received. This really cuts down on the addictive nature of likes.
Second to give an appreciation you actually have to view the photo full-size. It is only then that you have the opportunity give an appreciation. This reduces the habit of rapid-fire likes. Along with this, Glass presents the mosaic of someone’s photo in a much larger size giving you a better viewing experience that entices you to look at the full-size photo. The aim is to get you to look at photos. The whole mindset is different and takes a bit getting used to. However, the focus on photography rather than clicks is refreshing
Like Vero, Glass doesn’t have advertising or algorithms to present photos to you. Unlike Vero and Instagram, Glass doesn’t use hubs. What you look at is completely up to you.
Glass has a different business model. It is a fee-based website. While no one likes paying a fee, it does have the advantage of weeding out the less-serious photographers, wannabe influencers, and photos of someone’s breakfast. There are two membership levels; Regular at $40/year and Patron at $130/year. In both cases you are charged after a free two-week trial period. Currently there is 50% black Friday discount through December, 3rd. The coupon code is BLACKFRIDAY. Please, note, I’m not compensated in any form or fashion for this review. Personally, I thought $20 for the first year was worth the risk and the chance to really enjoy seeing good photography.
I’m not changing anything in terms of my use of Facebook. I typically don’t post a lot of photos there but will do so occasionally. I do use it to promote my blog and visit the sites of the photography clubs I belong to and to follow the work of friends that post photos there.
Instagram and Twitter
I haven’t actively used either Instagram or Twitter in quite some time and that’s not changing. I’m not deleting my accounts since things may change in the future although that is highly unlikely. The only current change I’m making is not publicizing links to my dormant Instagram or Twitter accounts.
Leave A Comment And Share
How do you feel about your social media use? What, if anything, are you planning on changing in your use of social media? Please leave a comment in the comment box below.
