Not Building on Rented Land

Putting all your eggs in one basket that is controlled by one of the big social media suppliers may be very cheap but it is a very risky strategy. 

I am getting so frustrated by all the “little” changes in anything social media or “free” internet services (are you listening Facebook & Google, ah didn’t think you were). Failed updates to the operating systems (are you listening Microsoft) don’t help. Things like changes to passwords or enhanced “security” (aka for the service not us), buttons and functions that once worked having disappeared or just hanging.  Trying to build a coherent structure across any of these services is at risk of instant and unannounced disruption and disappearance. It is going to frustrate your loyal viewers trying to find you, as much as you.

It is the uploading and sharing of photos/images that most annoys me (and blogger/google photos is not without blame here). The quality of the actual displays on most services is not good, Compression down to the lower resolution screens at the display time is generally not great (presumably to reduce bandwidth and lag time). Flickr may be an exception here. Also it is not uncommon for images to get “lost” in the flood. Algorithmic selection on these services favours the “celebrity” and more of the same, not the original and quality and especially not the creative. So even your friends may be lucky to see your posts if you haven’t made the algorithms target views or likes in the first short time period.

Is there a solution? Maybe, we can stop using social media and the “free” services, as the place we base our net presence, because we are not in control of what they choose to show and do. However, if we want to use the Internet to reach a wider audience we can still participate but we need to build a few things on the net but on our own “properties”. They should be at least an email account (not a social media controlled undercover agent or their chat features that seem not be always listening in), probably also our own website (there are many companies that offer reasonable cost options) and domain name. These are stable places you can bring people to with confidence. Somr free or inexpensive services like email newsletters, portfolios and blogs can then be interfaced to spaces that you own and control, not total control by them (read the TOS terms of service). Once these are established you can use suitable social media to bring friends and interested folk back to your presence, with suitable links back to your own places.  

So make sure you are not building on borrowed time or rented ground. Stop chasing traffic, the distracted rabble chasing fame or celebrity on social media, they are just glimpsing works anyway as they scroll past.

Watch this space for my attempts to put this common sense logic into practice.