My thoughts on social media

I was asked what I think of social media today, whether it is good or bad for photographers.

Here’s my answer:

Social media is a very ambivalent topic. On the one hand, I find it helpful for a photographer, whether amateur or professional. It can help to connect with others and get positive or constructive feedback… And at best to be recognized as a good photographer. Likewise, you can pick up a few things and get inspired.
The danger, however, is that you can be distracted too quickly from the actual purpose of photography and get into the maelstrom of wanting to collect as many followers as possible as quickly as possible. You may try to imitate other, already large and successful accounts and let yourself be forced by predefined algorithms to always show the same thing. In my opinion, this is the death of one’s own photographic creativity. Of course, the follower hunter’s creativity is limitless in return. 😉
In my case and example Instagram I had already spent a lot of time on the platform until I realized how much it distracted me and forced me only in one direction. It worked well with my current fascination with black and white photography, and I got a lot of good feedback.
However, when the new algorithm hit and I suddenly only got 5 to 10% of likes than before, I finally saw what I was letting be forced upon me. Now I just see it again as a nice occupation on the side. I currently still post a lot of black and white, just because I like it, but I no longer hesitate in between to show something different and out of line.
In Germany, there’s a saying „Ist der Ruf erst ruiniert, lebt es sich ganz ungeniert“ („Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite uninhibited”), which can be wonderfully adopted with „Once the algorithm is ruined, you can post quite uninhibitedly.“