The Social Media platform hunt

Hunting for a set of decent Social Media platforms

social media politician amoeba will  engulf us all

It is a new year, time to clear out the old. Over time ended up with multiple accounts on too many different social media platforms to continue wasting time on and bothering with. So I am making the decision to drastically cut down the list to only a few that I plan to actively continue using.

Synopsis

For this activity I looked at twenty one (Yikes!) platforms I may have had userid's on. 
Thirteen are now sanitized, purged and deleted.
Two are still being evaluated, but most likely will be flushed. 
and a potentially new one is being looked at.
Five platforms have been kept, one in each of the major functional category 
     (photo sharing, video sharing, business contacts, team messaging, blogging)

The caveat: Nothing is actually free. On platforms owned by the likes of Meta(facebook/instagram/whatsapp), Google(youtube/blogger), Microsoft(LinkedIn), SpaceKaren(twitter), China(tiktok, 500px), you are primarily the product with your data being harvested for resale.

Selection criteria

  • Must be “free” to use, (since you are creating the platforms content)
  • Ads and algorithms must be blockable, (As I have absolutely no interest in seeing their time wasting BS)
  • Must be “free world” owned.
  • Must be easy to use from multiple platforms and devices.

Decision key

Keep   = actively build on and use platform
?quit? = still evaluating exiting.
maybe  = need more information
quit   = clear/sanitize old content, abandon platform, leave a zombie placeholder
delete = wipe and delete id immediately.
n/a    = not applicable, platform unsuitable, remove any IDs.

Posts on retained platforms sanitized using a "free" schedulable post redaction tool.

Platform table

PlatformPurposeQuick look and Impressions.CostDecision
VeroPhoto & media sharingLinear feed, supports still images, video, music, text as separate post categories and
NO ADS or algorithms.
freeKeep
Youtube
(Google)
Video sharingVideo centric
full of ads (blockable) and algorithm controlled feed
freeKeep
Linkedin
(Microsoft)
Business contactsProfessional business profile and forumsfree / paidKeep
SlackTeam messagingBusiness level messaging and conferencing with team roomsfree / paidKeep
(sanitized)
Blogger
(Google)
Blog(s)Blogging, one userid can host multiple blogs (AKA Blogspot)freeKeep
Facebook
(Meta)
bit of everythingMostly obnoxious rambling twits, conspiracy idiots, and cat pictures.
Trying to be a bit of everything and failing monumentally.
full of ads (blockable) and algorithm controlled feed (blockable)
free / paid post boost?quit?
(sanitized)
Instagram
(Meta)
photo short form video garbageMoving to be short form video centric, lost its focus.
full of ads (blockable) and algorithm controlled feed
free / paid post boost?quit?
(sanitized)
youpicphoto gigging
seller/buyer connections
image centric, seems like a mix of instagram/twitter aimed at gigging photographers and buyers.limited free / paidmaybe
flickr
(SmugMug)
photo sharingimage centric, with blogging capabilitylimited free / paidquit
ViewBugphoto sharing & contestsimage centric, many contests,
“likes are a stroke fest”, constant push to upgrade
limited free / paidquit
Vemo
(PayPal)
video sharingvideo centric, too limitedlimited free / paidquit
twittermindless babblingplatform self destructing, full of conspiracy idiots,
full of ads (blockable) and algorithm controlled feed.
free / paidquit
pinterestimage pinningimage (theft?) centric, peculiar
full of ads (blockable), more suited to old folks homes
freequit
500px
(China Visual Group)
photo sharingBought by China Visual Grouppaiddelete(d)
deviantart
(WIX)
art sharingunsuitable, more for artists than photographersfree / paidn/a
WhatsApp
(Meta)
messagingunsuitable, messaging appfreen/a
SnapChatmessagingunsuitable, messaging app with story capabilityfreen/a
reddit
(Advance Publication)
forumsunsuitablefreen/a
tumblr
(Automattic)
micro bloggingunsuitablefreen/a
TikTok
(ByteDance)
short form video garbageOwned by China ByteDance, short form videos.
Unsuitable for anyone with a functioning brain.
freen/a
BeRealsnapshot sharingPhoto sharing app, where you have no control over when you get to snap one image daily.
Something stupider than TikTok, if that is even possible.
freen/a
Social Media Platforms examined.

End of Chasing the Ever Elusive Pixel?

glass bottle skull
glass bottle skull

Chasing the ever elusive pixel.

I am at the point I don’t know why I am bothering.
It is 2nd quarter 2019 and I have not taken a single image I was actually interested in taking this year so far.
Yes images have been made, but all for others, nothing that I would have dragged out equipment for given a choice.
Maybe it is finally time to hang up the cameras.

Many of the photo cohorts I know have gone a different route.
They run out every now and then to hunt down a few great images, while videoing their trip and process.
Filling up a lot of time with impressive drone shots and b-roll to try to create a compelling video,
then trying to use it to pedal their photo trips and courses.
Basically they have become photo-tour guides who also happen to take images occasionally.
For now it seems to pay well, one of the few remaining areas that still does.
But nothing I currently have interest in doing.

It is said “Never say never”, for me it seems I have reached the end of my interest in the pastime, at least for now.
Who knows maybe I’ll find something to get me going again someday, maybe not.

At the moment I am deciding whether to close out the social media groups, pages and accounts on Facebook/Instagram/twitter.
Many of which seem to have taken rather obnoxious turns, with the slobs hiding behind their keyboards spewing vitriol
at each other in many of what used to be former great groups.
I have already deleted my memberships from the ones that have degenerated the most, now deciding on the rest and the accounts themselves.