I used to have 50,000 followers and a dream. Now, I have a ghost town and an algorithm that wants me to be a clown.
Once upon a time, in the burgeoning days of Instagram, photography and art reigned supreme. You could meet people around the world holding similar interests to you, forging new friendships based solely on the unique appreciation and dissemination of art. You could even attain a small, loyal following and maybe even some small measures of niche celebrity status. People would be so appreciative that you decided to share your art with them; they were actually helpful when they had criticism to share. Overall, it was just a better place to grow as an artist. I feel really lucky that I got to find my feet in that environment.
The metric seemed to be good vibes and good art, which equated to a successful and engaged audience. This is a very easy thing to understand and to flourish in. It just made sense for everyone involved. Sure, there was competition and maybe some jealousy on the fringes, and obviously the usual internet weirdos, but it seemed distant.
Then the Fire Nation attacked. Just kidding, it was Facebook. Things seemed to be okay at first, but soon, with TikTok's raging popularity, AI algorithms and Reels entered the chat with a vengeance. Mark Zuckerberg's Meta seemed intent on shaking the tree for profitability's sake to compete in an ever-changing social media marketplace. Unfortunately, when such a violent shaking occurs, there are usually casualties. In this case, it was photographers and artists in general who weren't wanting to be videographers or influencers as well. Obviously, this isn't true for every single account out there, but it's definitely been the rule of thumb that the audience you spent years building is likely not even seeing your work anymore. I think that's incredibly sad.
Back in its heyday, I used to get over a thousand likes per post and had the better part of 50k followers, which for a small-town photographer was a massive boon for my visibility, as well as giving me the unexpected ability to work with national brands like Sigma, Hobolite, Tory Burch, and a lot of smaller brands in the photography industry. That was honestly so mind-blowing to me, and I’m sure it didn’t help my ego. But honestly looking back my art was definitely still catching up to where I was. I don’t think it was bad but I feel I was more often getting lucky and picking the right subjects. But honestly its besides the point which is that Instagram led by Adam Mosseri has killed engagement for actual artist. Its a platform consumed by brain rot content. If you are not prioritizing the mind-numbing doom scroll style content that they are currently pushing you are effectively shadowbanned by the algorithm. When I built my audience and people followed me nobody asked for that type of content.
So what's the alternative? I've been trying several alternative apps like Foto, Flickr, Cara, and Substack, and honestly, they all have promise. It's just a daunting task to rebuild an audience, especially when they aren't going to be there with me for the journey. It's not that I'm going to stop growing as an artist, but I feel like the growth is going to be more refinement than the leaps and bounds growth that I previously experienced. That's not a terrible thing, and one useful way I intend to share that growth is by teaching. It's an easy thing to help others when I've made pretty much all the mistakes you can make as a photographer and creative.
I'm still excited about the future of my art; I just don't see Instagram as the best place to share it anymore. I'm very open to suggestions. I think the best thing we all can do right now in an increasingly divisive world is use art as it was originally intended: as a medium to share beauty with everyone, not just our personal belief bubbles and echo chambers.
