Social media

Social media

We all know what that term means, don’t we? And I find that I casually despise anything that comes under the name: I find ThatSite hard to navigate, because it moves stuff around, and there are so many inane comments made. Yes, I am (I suppose) one of the liberal elite, in that I went to university and have socially liberal views, but I also like orderliness and the ability to find what I saw yesterday without being advertised at.

A couple of times, members posting in the Critique Gallery here have commented that they get far more helpful feedback on Ephotozine than on Facebook, and that’s what I’d expect. Members there are not necessarily photographers, whereas all EPZ members have a real commitment to the hobby (or profession).

I posted a really awful bird picture (which also appeared here) on FB, commenting that I wasn’t happy with it as a photograph (as opposed to a snap): one friend told me I was wrong, very simply. I get where she’s coming from, but she clearly doesn’t get where I’m sitting. Fine as a snap, but not the stuff of EPZ awards.

And we all know about someone who suffered a lot from trolling on mainstream social media: the ‘Twitterstorm’ has an equivalent everywhere. People who seem to enjoy making outers uncomfortable – a reason why some people close accounts temporarily.

The same sort of thing can happen on model-photographer networking sites. On the one hand, you’re encouraged to visit the forums, but on the other, it’s easy to end up in a disagreement that you’re not really interested in. It can feel like that Monty Python sketch about booking an argument. The full half hour…

Two questions for you, and one thought.

Is EPZ a ‘social medium’? Certainly, I’ve made more new and real friends here than on any other website, by miles. There’s a real sense of community. But we’re all clustered round the pictures: we have a common, uniting interest. (I’ll admit that my wife is part of a Facebook gardening group which provides her with both information and a chance to share her own knowledge, but it still feels a little less constrained and focussed on the point than we usually are here! And I tend not to visit the EPZ forums a lot.)

Do you find this a generally congenial place? My own impression is that it’s like an idealised camera club, where people share and enjoy in a generally uncompetitive way, valuing insights as much as votes and awards, and sharing a generous spirit – if you have other experiences, please say something, possibly to one of the moderators, who are a generally nice bunch.

The thought? Do definitions matter very much, providing the experience is positive, technically and socially? One of my favourite children’s books is about a panda who travels the world to find out if he’s a white bear with black patches, or a black one with white patches. In the end, he goes home knowing that he is a bear who makes music with his flute.

I am a person who makes pictures with his camera.