5 to 7 years ago Facebook was great for my photography career. But over the past several years I have seen a steady decline in an actual benefit from Facebook. Here's what I posted on my popular Facebook page an hour ago, "I will no longer post original content for Facebook..."
*Me in New York with some Lightenupandshoot Friends
I noticed some big changes a few yeas ago when Facebook made me change my business name, Lightenupandshoot Mikey, to my actual legal name. Then gobs of ads started to appear on my feed. Then there was a notice that FB could do whatever the hell they wanted with my copyrighted images. Then I noticed changes in the algorithms, I no longer noticed friends on the other side of the planet show up in my feed, which resulted in less business for my creative efforts and less interaction with my fans/friends. Facebook slowly has become less important for me business wise. Less photography business is coming my way, I still create the same awesome content but the interaction amongst my community has started dramatically diminish. I have grown as an artist so I don't think I have become stale. I definitely don't receive a monetary benefit from FB like on Steemit. I'm new to Steemit, it's not about the money for me, it's about interaction from a community.
*my last post of FB
When I first started making videos on YouTube seven years ago I also created a FB and Twitter account. I earned a couple hundred bucks every few months from YouTube for a few years and Facebook was a great platform to promote my photography workshops. It has been awesome! But zoom to 2017 and I just don't see the benefit. I'll make a video or write an awesome post and maybe get 25 likes with very little engagement. I don't think my content is stale, I just think FB has changed. What's the benefit of a few likes?
I have decided to CREATE LITTLE OR NO CREATIVE CONTENT ON FACEBOOK. I'm sad to say it, but it's true. I'm not angry, I just don't see the benefit. I may create a new FB account for just my friends, I will say that I have made friends that I would otherwise not have if it weren't for FB. But now I feel as though they are in control and it's affecting me.
*Me in Hong Kong
Steemit has given me a new jump start with creative juices and a drive to create new content. Engage with a new group of people that are a part of the digital currency world.
I see STEEMIT AS A NEW PLATFORM THAT IS SPEARHEADING A NEW ERA AND I WANT TO BE A PART OF IT.
Steemians, if you egg me on, I'm going to produce content which ultimately makes me better as an artist! I love to inspire, I don't care about the money. But! I also hate the fact that I feel like a large corporation like FB/IG is benefiting from my creative content without compensation. How many of my trending posts are deliberately sandwiched around ads designed to grab the attention of my followers? How much money are they making off me without paying me a penny for my creativity? It makes me boil and saddens me. A platform like FB helped me in the beginning, helped me share my passion for photography and now I feel used.
Okay, I admit I'm a little emotional writing this post, but I'm passionate about my work. I'm glad I found Steemit and I hope to meet some new friends here, inspire, create and promote others that I find talented. Steemit is a killer idea and just makes sense in so many ways.
Steem on and screw FB/IG!!!!
*I find this quite funny! Maybe I should spend the 3 bucks to promote this on FB :)
