A social media presence might be essential, but with social media platforms in a state of flux, which is the best one for a photographer to call home? The fast-growing Bluesky platform could be a breath of fresh air for photographers tired of their work being hidden behind a pay-to-play paywall.
I’m going to come right out and admit upfront that I’m a fan of the fairly new Bluesky social media platform—or perhaps I should qualify this by saying, “so far, so good, at least.”
Looking to fill the unmet needs of many social media users who are tired of the relentless exploitation of their content by traditional social media platforms, and of their lack of control over how that content is used and presented, the Bluesky platform aims to provide a decentralized and more egalitarian social media forum that strives to place the needs of its users over corporate greed.
The decentralized structure of the platform is apparently driven by the desire to offer its users more control over their own content, as well as making it “billionaire proof”—heading off any attempt by some well-heeled individual or group to buy it out from under the feet of its users and turn it into some kind of toxic tarpit whose owners impoverish their users while simultaneously (and metaphorically) feeding off their flesh to enrich themselves. I know—this sounds like some kind of far-fetched nightmare from a dystopian world very different from our own, but maybe it could happen!
I have been using Bluesky for a short time now, and I have to say that I am quite surprised and impressed at how refreshingly different it feels from the other, more traditional social media platforms. As an example of this, when I post one of my photographs, I typically receive ten times more responses from my few followers on Bluesky than I do from my orders-of-magnitude larger followings on the other platforms. So when this video about using Bluesky as a photographer appeared in my YouTube feed, I felt I had to share it with you.
Andy Hutchinson is a straight-talking photographer from down under, whose enjoyable, no-nonsense style is featured front and center on his YouTube channel of the same name. In his latest video, Andy describes his experience using the relatively new Bluesky social media platform as a photographer and offers some valuable and very practical advice to photographers who might be interested in establishing a presence on it.
Before you watch it, I should just warn you that Andy does not mince his words in any way, and his sometimes strident opinions about the various social media platforms are often peppered with some colorful language that you might not want your kids to hear. You have been warned!
No. A picture I posted on X some years ago got 1,100 favourable reactions. I posted the same pic on Bluesky two weeks ago and it has received 7 likes so far.
Bluesky is just an escape for the unhinged children throwing a tantrum because X is now a fair open playing field for ALL, not just catering to the left. Bluesky will go the way of Vero that thought they can take on Instagram. Look at them now.
--- "I have been using Bluesky for a short time now, and I have to say that I am quite surprised and impressed at how refreshingly different it feels from the other, more traditional social media platforms."
Really? It literally looks like X/Twitter. Even the comment, repost, and like buttons are virtually identical.
--- "As an example of this, when I post one of my photographs, I typically receive ten times more responses from my few followers on Bluesky than I do from my orders-of-magnitude larger followings on the other platforms."
Can you gaslight any harder? The responses on your Bluesky image posts are pretty much identical to what you are getting on Instagram. Not ten times more.