Life After Instagram / Facebook as a Photographer?

It’s been two weeks… here’s the good, the bad and a possible solution for the future of "social" media.

Life without Social Media: It’s great!

The main reason I say it’s been great is: I scroll less, and I’ve seen my mood stay more positive over longer periods of time. I’m less distracted, and I’m reading more physical books than in a long time.

Overall, it’s awesome, and I do NOT want to go back. Ever.

I have a lot more time for… PHOTOS OF CATS!

However…

Life without Social Media ALSO SUCKS.

So yeah. At the same time, it’s a struggle.

I’m going to be 50 years old this year, and, as I get older, the more I feel the pull to isolate myself more and more. I watched my own father pull away from the world and become a slave to the television, and I don’t want that to happen to me.

I want healthy relationships, and I want to hang out with real people in real life.

BUT - everyone seems to only post stuff on Facebook and online in general! The idea that I would ask everyone in my life to call me or text me directly when they have something going on is kind of a big ask.

I hate it. I feel left out. A friend of mine had their beloved dog die, and they only posted it on Facebook. I felt terrible when I found out, but I also can’t expect everyone around me to change their life for me.

I’m not quite sure what the answer to this problem is, but I’m working on it. I know Cal Newport and others are writing about this problem more and more, so I’ll have to see what some of the advice out there is.

If YOU have any advice, let me know!

Alternatives to (corrosive) Social Media?

I don’t have a problem with social media. I have a problem with how certain platforms manipulate us and use every trick in the book to get us addicted to mindless content. They want our attention, and my attention is better served creating art and connecting with others.

I’ve started to see what else is out there for us not wanting to be mind-controlled by an algorithm, and I’ve come up with a few options (and I’ll keep letting people know what I find in the future).

My goal isn’t to sell anything. I don’t want to use social media to make money. I want to connect with others and find a community!

Here’s what I found so far:

Old-school Forums

This is dpreview.

Part of the problem with social media in its current form is the way the algorithm works is designed to keep us addicted and scrolling.

There is a better way to keep the “social” in what we do, and that’s going back to old-school photography forums.

Sites like FredMiranda.com, dpreview.com, and many more have forums organized by topic. It’s really easy to get some conversations going, and it’s much less distracting than using an algorithm-based social media platform.

It’s a lot of fun to share images, participate in conversations and have a place to ask questions.

The downside is that trolls still exist there, and they are pretty miserable human beings. So… if you can ignore them and/or block them, that’s a good way to deal with these sad people!

Flickr

Flickr is OLD. Like… ancient in internet terms! There are countless images there, going back many years, and it’s a pretty cool historic document for the internet.

Flickr is fun because you can find your tribe there easily. There are groups based on equipment, philosophy, poetry and so much more. There’s a lot of good vibes there!

However, most of the “discussions” are pretty dead. There’s not a lot of activity going on, and in order for you to get a lot of eyes on your work, you need to add your photos to as many groups as possible.

I’m just not sure I care if “anyone” sees my work - I want the right people to! So that means a small group of other photographers who I appreciate and respect. I think I can get that using Flickr and I’ll probably dive deeper into the platform this year… if I find the time.

BlueSky

BlueSky is Twitter/X/Threads that isn’t owned by the Evil Empire (Meta).

I heard from

Andy Adams

and others that it’s a good place to be for photographers, and I logged in to check it out.

I immediately saw politics and logged out.

BlueSky is supposed to allow users to have much more control over what they see, so that sounds like good news. I noticed this article here about controlling your feed… but for now I’m too scared to log back in and see what terrible things fully grown billionaire adults are doing to the world.

Glass

Glass is a kinda-new social media app for photographers.

I like it a lot.

There doesn’t seem to be an algorithm, and I see the new work of people I like immediately.

It’s also a MUCH quieter place than we are used to, and I enjoy that solitude. It allows me to dive deeper into the photos.

The quality of the way Glass displays the photograph is fantastic, and I’ve really enjoyed connecting with photographers there on a slower, more meaningful level.

If you go there, check me out @jerredz.

Finally, I started my own community!

If you’ve been around me for a bit, you know that I’ve tried this before.

I love teaching. I love helping.

It makes my day when I can positively answer someone’s question. That’s why my exit from social media has been tough - I’ve always liked it when people saw something I posted and they reached out to me with a question. It’s fun to help people!

And due to that, I’m going to “be the change I wish to see in the world.” As an old teacher, I’ve told students to do that a ton… but of course we don’t always follow our own advice.

This time, though, I’m following through, and I’m going to ask for your help.

Do you see value in a safe, positive, distraction-free community? If so, let’s make a cool space together!

I’m starting the “Megapixel Road Community” as a way to see if like-minded photographers and creatives might want a unique place to call home. This time around I’ve partnered up with my photography buddy Wes Kreisel. He’s a wonderful photographer and also an educator, so this will be a great partnership. You can check out his YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@WesKriesel/videos.

The platform we chose, Circle, seems really great. We can do events, livestreams together, and much more. I think it’s going to be fun, and I have a few personal goals for the platform:

1. I will help people find companionship in a community built around creativity and photography. I hate the negativity found on Facebook, Instagram and others… so I’m creating something different. I’m creating a place where I WANT to be, and I think if I do that, others will want to hang out there too.

2. I will SHOW UP. I am going to be there daily, helping and assisting, doing consistent weekly challenges, livestreams and more.

3. I want to take the next step of my photography journey, and I’d love to have a group of trusted people help me do this. I don’t know what that all means yet, but that’s part of the fun… and of course I want to be there to help OTHERS in their goals as well.

If you want to become a better photographer and choose to do so with a kind, fun group of creative people; then join our group!

I’m going to be fully transparent about how much this costs and all of that.

Wes and I are committed to putting in around $1,500 to create this community and help it thrive for a full year. This covers the cost of of the monthly platform subscription, a few other associated accounts, and the URL.

Our goal isn’t to make a ton of money.

Instead, we want to create something special - a place where photographers and artists can come together, talk about ideas and show each other our work, and become better human beings together… and Wes and I are excited to create enough value for people to want to pay for it.

Our First Weekly Challenge is LIVE NOW. Just click the link below, sign up to the community, and you can start posting your results for the weekly challenges.

A screenshot from the community and where you’ll find the weekly challenges!

We are excited about the future of the Megapixel Road Community!

We are going to keep the community free for now, and anyone who joins gets in free forever. We’ll figure out pricing (we will never be super expensive!) as we go, and we’d love your feedback on all of this!

Please let me know what you think - and I’ll see you there!

Join up here:

https://megapixelroadcommunity.circle.so/join?invitation_token=f6dc4174a740d55157f81bec6be0fd96ee6d9d67-373feb4a-7bb4-4105-a804-40525cba7ca1

(If you have any problems joining or need some help, just email me: jerredz@gmail.com)