This is the space for our members to discuss and share their creative projects, ranging from written works to drawings, photography, and even craft projects such as knitting and woodworking. Self promotion is welcome (websites where we can view and/or purchase your work). Please do continue to preface if content is NSFW and be sure to properly spoiler/link such content.
As with at least a few of you, I’ve been using Instagram as my primary online creative exposure for almost seven years now. My first couple of years were pretty enjoyable and I was able to grow a small but (I think, anyway) quality audience and make connections with some cool people and artists around the world. Not long into 2019, it seemed like the connections started to dry up due to the changes in algorithm Facebook began to enforce, and while it was good to have a dependable outlet whereon to post work, it wasn’t nearly as fun and revelatory as it used to be.
That was the situation in December 2020, when I last did a specific post on this stuff. The FTC lawsuit aiming to get Facebook to divest its ownership of Instagram apparently continues to drag on. I still post once or twice a week but refuse to do stories or reels, as that’s not what my work’s about and I feel like we should let TikTok be TikTok. It’s gotten to the point where I probably get more engagement via Facebook (where I don’t post more than once a week, more usually biweekly), as I and the vast majority of my friends are north of forty and that makes a lot more sense once I thought about it for more than a few seconds (as do the appearance of some traditionally elderly habits that will remain nameless because once I start I’m probably gonna regret it).
The specific impulse for this revisit came this weekend, as I woke up earlier than expected, couldn’t get back to sleep, and so decided to check Instagram just out of habit. I got through two posts from specific follows before a near-minute of scrolling through “suggested for you” posts followed. I kept wondering when I’d see something from someone I actually knew in person or online, and nothing doing. A message eventually emerged that I’d seen all older posts from the past week. This sent me to my follows page, where I found that I’d missed quite a few posts from people I might have otherwise liked due to the cumulative effect from all the “suggested” posts. This annoyed me a lot more than I’d expected, not least down to the suspicion that the erasure of online community is intentional.
For all I know, this is happening to my friends, too, and they’re having the same reaction. I wonder where it’s all headed, and if this’ll be the twenties equivalent of sticking with MySpace during Facebook’s initial heyday. If so, then whatever. I’m investigating a couple of other options, and I still feel pretty comfortable with my artwork’s place in my life. Just had to get all that off my chest.
The header’s a view of last month’s snowfall and what I believe to be one of those tech offices that I understand are the key to revitalizing certain Midwestern downtowns. Good shot of my state of mind when I wrote this, if nothing else.
How’s your work going?