{"id":80197,"date":"2018-03-22T22:56:39","date_gmt":"2018-03-23T05:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=80197"},"modified":"2018-03-23T00:03:06","modified_gmt":"2018-03-23T07:03:06","slug":"how-would-you-share-your-photos-if-you-didnt-have-facebook-instagram-or-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/22\/how-would-you-share-your-photos-if-you-didnt-have-facebook-instagram-or-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"How Would You Share Your Photos if You Didn’t Have Facebook, Instagram, or Social Media?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dear friend,<\/p>\n

In lieu of the whole #DeleteFacebook movement, let’s do a thought experiment: How would you share your photos if you didn’t have Facebook, Instagram, or other forms of social media?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Digital Sharecropping<\/h2>\n
\"A
A FSA photo of a cropper family chopping the weeds from cotton near White Plains, in Georgia, US (1941). Photo by Jack Delano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I once heard social media being likened to ‘digital sharecropping’. Historically, sharecropping was a system in which wealthy land-owners would allow a tenant to work a piece of their land, in return for a share of the crops. On paper it sounds great, but in reality– sharecropping with another form of “indentured servitude” (you essentially become a slave just to repay your debts).<\/p>\n

Why can Facebook\/Instagram\/other forms of social media be likened to sharecropping? Well — think about it this way:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Facebook\/Instagram\/social media gives you the platform to publish your photos and content (for ‘free’).<\/li>\n
  2. In exchange, you give up personal data, information, and allow these platforms to advertise around your content.<\/li>\n
  3. Eventually you build up a following on Facebook\/Instagram, and you become stuck on the platform. For example, if you have several thousands of followers, your hand is forced– it would be unwise for you to suddenly stop using Facebook\/Instagram (considering you already have a lot of followers).<\/li>\n
  4. Eventually Facebook\/Instagram\/social media changes their algorithms, making it more difficult for you to reach or connect with your followers\/fans. Then, you must start paying Facebook (which owns Instagram) money to access your fans by “boosting” your posts.<\/li>\n
  5. Slowly but surely, you lose more and more control. You end up becoming a slave to the platform of Facebook\/Instagram\/social media.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \n

    Facebook\/Instagram is a business<\/h2>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Now to be honest, I don’t think that Facebook\/Instagram is ‘evil’ per-se. Facebook is just another company which must make profits for their shareholders (they are now a publicly traded company, which means that if they aren’t making profits or growing, their own livelihood as a business is at stake).<\/p>\n

    Facebook\/Instagram isn’t an altruistic platform, nor is it a public utility like a free library or free public roads. This is the biggest mistake that a lot of people make — they forget that Facebook is a for-profit company. And like any good company, THEY MUST PROFIT! They can only profit through their advertising platform, by charging you as a Facebook business owner to boost your posts\/acquire more followers\/likes, and by letting advertisers have access to their users’ data to advertise products\/messages\/services.<\/p>\n

    \n

    Facebook\/Instagram are good platforms for marketing\/business<\/h2>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    If you cannot afford to pay $10 a month for your own photography website or blog (I recommend 1and1.com or bluehost.com and wordpress.org) Facebook\/Instagram\/social media is good, because you don’t need to pay anything upfront to build up your own following and page. And to be honest, to use Facebook\/Instagram is often a good business marketing platform as a photographer. Instagram is still growing at a phenomenal pace, and is the de-facto place to share your images\/photos. In a sense, if you aren’t on Facebook\/Instagram, you are at a slight disadvantage from a marketing\/advertising\/branding perspective.<\/p>\n

    \n

    How I benefited after deleting my Instagram<\/h2>\n
    \"Looking
    Looking up. Tokyo urban landscape, 2018<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Yet on the contrary, I deleted my Instagram<\/a>, and as a result, I’ve become MORE<\/em> productive as a photography entrepreneur, content-creator, and blogger. Rather than caring too much about the likes and followers, I have been writing more, making more videos, and coming up with more ideas that I’ve been publishing here in my Photography Entrepreneurship 101 series<\/a>. As a result, I believe that I have actually grown my profits\/income as a photographer, because more blogging\/content-creation = more traffic to my site, more people checking out my shop<\/a>, my Amazon products<\/a>, and my workshops<\/a>.<\/p>\n