We live in an age of online networking and we’ve gone beyond email and instant messaging. Most everyone has a blog, social networking site, photo sharing site, video uploading site, etc. The worldwide web is full of many wondrous things that can easily take up hours of your day. But why? Why exert so much time and energy into joining and being a part of all these websites? It seems a simple question with an obvious stream of answers: How else will I stay in contact with my old friends from high school if I don’t have a Facebook? MySpace allows me to express my personal style and meet new and interesting people with similar interests. I can keep track of everything my friends, families and favorite celebrities are doing with quick sentences posted on Twitter. Flickr let’s me share my skills as an independent photographer with people outside of my community. Vimeo allows me to display my creative video projects to a larger audience. I can share endless photos, music, videos, quotes and stories on Tumblr and gain followers interested in my original work and/or similar interests. Obviously, I could go on forever but I won’t, I promise.
The point I’m trying to get across is that these sites have countless advantages and attractions. Nevertheless, they seem abused and I admit that I am one of these abusers. I had or have a MySpace, a Facebook, a Photobucket, a Flickr, a Last.fm, a Tumblr, etc. There really is so many directions I can take this particular posting but I’m not here to rant nor am I really here to judge. If you’re reading this in hopes of some further insight on online predators, internet addiction or age restrictions on social networking, I agree that all of those are valid discussions worth exploring but I’d like to focus on what drives us to be a part of all these online networks.
I know no one as well as I know myself, therefore, I will be my own example. I have always felt a creative spark inside of me and the need to express something beautiful that will be recognized by others. Six years ago a friend of mine got me started on MySpace. Many of my friends stopped using email so MySpace became my main form of communication with a large group of my friends. I got hooked on making my page look just so, trying to write witty little blog postings, bulletins, comments, messages and status updates. Then of course, it no longer became my way of communicating but rather a way for me to express my interests and maybe just a little bit of my creativity.
Then, of course, came the day I realized that most of my friends had switched to Facebook so I finally started one of those as well. The results were exhausting. Suddenly I realized that I wasn’t really keeping up with anyone on either site and when I did it was in petty little updates about some mundane activities. In essence, I had many “friends” on MySpace that I realized were only online acquaintances, including those I knew in person. I no longer feel the need to stay connected with everyone and so I deleted that particular account. This forced me to look at my online activity in general: the many email addresses I no longer used and different online accounts to sites I was no longer interested in but were still floating around with little bits of information that really no longer applied to me. I deleted as much as I could but I’m sure there are still small things I’ve forgotten that will float in cyberspace forever. I’m not really ashamed of anything I’ve ever posted or shared but I have changed alot in the last six years. We all change, as do our opinions, or at least one can hope.
I have a Flickr account but I don’t consider myself a photographer. I can take pictures, sometimes they might even be good or well-edited but that still doesn’t make me a professional. I would even stray away from calling myself an amateur. I don’t take enough artistic photos to call myself that. Yet I still have a Flickr as if maybe some day someone will see one of the few photos on there and say, “Wow, that is such a great angle. She has such potential.” I think that’s what alot of us are looking for in these sites. We’re hoping someone will notice something that we are either trying to convey or they’ll see something great in us or our work that even we didn’t notice. Keep in mind, I have noticed some really good original photos or text by people I follow on Tumblr mixed in with maybe some not so profound or original works. However, it seems like it’s incredibly difficult to get good exposure or even criticism sometimes from these sites. There are so many Tumblr, Flickr, Vimeo, etc. profiles. Sorting through all of them would take us through eternity and beyond. And let’s face it, half the time our first followers or fans are our friends and family. They would rather encourage us than criticize us, and though that can be helpful it is not always for the best. It is possible to make good connections online providing you know which sites to go to and how much of yourself to display on these sites but that doesn’t always happen. Also, anything posted on the internet is not necessarily protected. People might save (or screen capture) your work and post it on their own blog or networking tool and not give you any credit. Then, if someone takes it from their site how are they to know who originally took this photo or wrote this piece of text. It becomes lost in the masses. Everyone wants to be special and yet because everyone strives to be just that, they are less likely to be considered special. The same goes for a blog or themes in photography. I often see photos on Tumblr of girls in dresses whirling around with a bow in their hair, some pretty tights and a lens flare or a piece of text inserted quoting a book or a movie. I even enjoy some of these photos. It doesn’t mean I stop in my tracks and rush to discover the photographer’s name and website. It’s pleasant and interesting at times but there are so many that I think very little beyond “That’s pretty.” Everyone has to strive to be the first or most popular at a subject or theme to get any real recognition and possibly benefit career-wise from it.
Though it is now easier to find these connections and to get our work and opinions out there, it makes it that much more difficult to be singled out from everyone else with a similar idea. I suppose with enough persistence and/or luck, recognition and reward might be achieved but how far must one go and how many more go unnoticed? It is my hope that my words will be noticed and perhaps even appreciated or at least regarded. Until that moment, as far as this blog is concerned, I suppose I’ll continue on with noiseless tread.
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