I just started taking pictures a month ago and I already have a lot of photos to show. I haven’t used social media or blogs in a long time, so I didn’t know where to begin.
This is what I’ve experienced so far.
First, let’s talk about Facebook. My family and friends have all been very supportive of my work and experimentation. They like photos that are really bad and make me feel good. This is always appreciated and often inspires me to feel more confident and motivated to be creative. However, as soon as I started this blog and began including its link with my posts, I noticed that the engagement of others drastically declined. I got no more likes or comments. I received nothing. What’s going on? According to my friends, if I include a link to my website, the post does not appear in their feeds. FB wants me to post on their platform instead of my own, that’s why they do this. I’m not happy with Facebook.
Instagram used to be the popular choice for photo blogging, right? I noticed that most of the content on the platform consists of short videos. This may be due to the competition with TikTok. Photos don’t receive as much interest as they used to five years ago. There are many bot accounts on the platform that spam posts when their location or description is accurately tagged. The majority of my real-life friends and family do not use the platform. I’ve had some good interactions with other users, and I still intend to post frequently on my feed. Nonetheless, the platform’s odd aspect ratio restrictions and poor image compression detract from the experience.
I wanted to find a platform with more community involvement, so I created a 500px profile and upgraded to a pro account. I was a little too hasty with my decision. I appreciated the statistics and unlimited storage it offered. I also found it appealing that photos could be licensed easily. The presentation of the photo stream and portfolio pages was impressive, and it seemed like a perfect match for me. That was until I actually tried to use the site in my daily work routine. The process of adding and organizing photos in the portfolio is cumbersome and not user-friendly. To update a photo, you need to navigate through four menus by clicking multiple times. Moreover, on the portfolio page, the feature to link individual photos or galleries and allow users to download pictures is unavailable. You cannot link directly to an image and embed it straight into a post either. I find it more and more challenging to use in my everyday tasks. Similar to Instagram, the platform has many bots. There are no longer any forums or community features. I am thinking of deleting my profile and using other social media and the website instead.
Flickr might be the website I need, but it’s still too early to say. Similar to 500px, they offer a paid pro version that enables unlimited uploads. Additionally, they provide a PC app that can monitor my export folders and automatically upload the files to my camera roll, allowing me to edit and publish them whenever I want. This feature helps in reducing the workload required to upload files on the website. I have experienced higher engagement with my photos and I appreciate the ability to join groups and share photos based on any topic. I have already received more helpful comments here than on 500px, and I’m chatting with real people, not bots. It’s refreshing, and at the end of the day what I really want when I share a photo online.
