Developing Online Presence

Facebook Versus Blogging

Felicity and I recently re-evaluated how we make our online presence more effective.

Being artists, our main focus should be in what we create, rather than how we should present it to the world.

Previously, we spent a solid twelve months attempting to build a network on Facebook.

Halfway into the year, Facebook rolled out the ‘Promote Your Post’ feature which has had a significant impact on our exposure on our Thomayne page. Since then, our appreciation of Facebook has diminished considerably and been replaced with disdain.

Over a period of several months, we started noticing a ‘levelling off’ of our network exposure. As people who are less than impressed with our limited time being needlessly wasted, it came to a point where we decided to walk away from Facebook and focus our attention on a more productive outlet.

For those who do not manage a Facebook page, Facebook has made changes where only a very small percentage (I believe it to be approx. 30%) of your followers see your updates on their news feed. Facebook have done this in the hope that you will be happy to make payments to receive the exposure you previously received for free.

In response to a barrage of criticism, Facebook repeatedly stated that they limit updates in this manner in order to stop people’s news feeds from being bombarded with posts.

So, it seems that they are apparently looking out for our best interests. But contradictorily, in return for a hefty payment, they are willing to forget about our best interests and return that exposure.

On our news feed, I noticed people complaining about the lack of exposure due to the Facebook restraints. So it seems we are not the only ones disappointed with the service.

Upon talking to a friend who is more social media adept than I am, I decided that creating this blog and starting off a fresh account on Twitter was the way to go.

And so here we are. I guess only time will tell whether it will be successful or not. But I can say so far - so good.

I am interested in what your thoughts are on this, so don’t hesitate to leave a comment.

Spread the Love!

We need you to help Thomayne grow. Our aim is to have at least 250 people like our Facebook page so we can start to wallpaper the world with FANTASTIC ART.

Once we hit 250 likes on the Thomayne Facebook page, a lucky winner will be given a free original print from Felicity Thomson Payne’s NOIR SERIES.

AND – we are going one step further. As we now have a new blog, we will broaden the scope a little bit.

Once we hit 250 followers of our blog, a lucky winner will be given a custom made canvas, made by ME specifically for them (size will be 10” x 10”). 

 

The winning persons will be chosen completely at random using a number generator. 

 

So do your best to recommend us to your friends, and you could be the proud owner of a new print or a custom made canvas!

Is Instagram Worthwhile?

 

I have been having a lot of fun posting on Instagram lately. More than I ever anticipated, to be honest. It is quick, easy and enjoyable.

That said, a lot of photographers throw much criticism at Instagram, stating that it ruins photography - making it cheap, shallow and nasty.

It has also been stated that the use of the cheap filters on Instagram is debasing 'real' photography, whatever that is. 

The logic in this criticism arises from the assumption that 'real' photography requires some effort and technical expertise in its creation. As such, it is believed to have some form of quality and inherent credibility, where photographs on Instagram supposedly do not.

Further, there are admittedly millions of photos on Instagram. And a lot of them could be considered average in both quality and content. Not everyone enjoys seeing endless photos of cats, or what 3 million people had for their lunch. 

But I figure that if services like Instagram make creativity more accessible, then it can't be a bad thing. 

Whilst it can be difficult to wade through a sea of photos to find the gems at the bottom of the ocean, I think it is worth it.

Look at DeviantArt for example. It has been a massive platform for any artist to exhibit and discuss works since 2000 - 2001. It is a massive network, rating as the 13th largest social networking site that attracts around 140,000 submissions per day. 

I have been a member on there since 2006 and can state with certainty that not every submission is gold (mine included). I have however, had a lot of joy in finding a lot of great artists via DeviantArt that I would not have been likely to find anywhere else. 

So I expect the same should happen on Instagram as time goes on. And I look forward to it. Hopefully others will feel the same way I do, and consider my images worthwhile.