Hunting for a set of decent Social Media platforms
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
Platform | Purpose | Quick look and Impressions. | Cost | Decision |
Vero | Photo & media sharing | Linear feed, supports still images, video, music, text as separate post categories and NO ADS or algorithms. | free | Keep |
Youtube (Google) | Video sharing | Video centric full of ads (blockable) and algorithm controlled feed | free | Keep |
Linkedin (Microsoft) | Business contacts | Professional business profile and forums | free / paid | Keep |
Slack | Team messaging | Business level messaging and conferencing with team rooms | free / paid | Keep (sanitized) |
Blogger (Google) | Blog(s) | Blogging, one userid can host multiple blogs (AKA Blogspot) | free | Keep |
Facebook (Meta) | bit of everything | Mostly 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) | Moving to be short form video centric, lost its focus. full of ads (blockable) and algorithm controlled feed | free / paid post boost | ?quit? (sanitized) | |
youpic | photo gigging seller/buyer connections | image centric, seems like a mix of instagram/twitter aimed at gigging photographers and buyers. | limited free / paid | maybe |
flickr (SmugMug) | photo sharing | image centric, with blogging capability | limited free / paid | quit |
ViewBug | photo sharing & contests | image centric, many contests, “likes are a stroke fest”, constant push to upgrade | limited free / paid | quit |
Vemo (PayPal) | video sharing | video centric, too limited | limited free / paid | quit |
mindless babbling | platform self destructing, full of conspiracy idiots, full of ads (blockable) and algorithm controlled feed. | free / paid | quit | |
image pinning | image (theft?) centric, peculiar full of ads (blockable), more suited to old folks homes | free | quit | |
500px (China Visual Group) | photo sharing | Bought by China Visual Group | paid | delete(d) |
deviantart (WIX) | art sharing | unsuitable, more for artists than photographers | free / paid | n/a |
WhatsApp (Meta) | messaging | unsuitable, messaging app | free | n/a |
SnapChat | messaging | unsuitable, messaging app with story capability | free | n/a |
reddit (Advance Publication) | forums | unsuitable | free | n/a |
tumblr (Automattic) | micro blogging | unsuitable | free | n/a |
TikTok (ByteDance) | short form video garbage | Owned by China ByteDance, short form videos. Unsuitable for anyone with a functioning brain. | free | n/a |
BeReal | snapshot sharing | Photo 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. | free | n/a |