VERO
Like many others in the photography community, I’ve joined VERO.
VERO is a social media platform but with a difference. It’s primarily aimed at photography and shows you a feed of those you follow in chronological order.
Unlike the behemoth called ‘Meta’ (they can change the name to disassociate themselves with dodgy stuff but we all know it as the manipulative Facebook, which also owns Instagram), VERO does not decide what you will see and allows filtering of content based on content type.
I like the fact that anyone can also browse VERO without having to be logged in. It’s annoying if you give someone a link to your Instagram account but they can’t see your images without having an account themselves.
The reason many photographers are either trying VERO, moving to it, or reincarnating their accounts from its inception in 2018 is Instagram’s announcement last year that it will no longer cater for photography.
Instagram Doubts
Instagram wants to focus on video, influencers, media content etc., and without actually admitting it, they want to copy TikTok.
The inevitable move towards this has been evident for quite a while. Most of my feed is video now rather than photos, and of the videos, it’s influencers and other such annoyances. I have no choice but to scroll through, occasionally seeing something I really want to see, and often never seeing the work of those I follow or want to see or discover.
The other irritation of Instagram is the attack of bots. Fake accounts (usually proven by a profile with zero posts) trying to ‘connect’ with you, either offering an alleged sex-related peek-a-boo, no doubt with spam or viruses waiting in the shadows, or wanting to ‘collaborate’.
If I was to believe just for a moment that an up and coming outdoor wear company wants to collaborate with me, I don’t really understand why a jewellery or other such claimed business person would want to do so. They are all fake (well I treat them all as such) and often I spend just as much time blocking those accounts as I do scrolling through the main feed.
Instagram does nothing to reduce or eradicate these fake accounts. When I’ve reported them, I get an automated message back saying they can’t see any problem. They’re becoming too arrogant, too irresponsible, and neglecting the very users that helped get them to where they are today.
It’s not all bad on Instagram
I still get some enjoyment out of Instagram. I enjoy sharing my photos and creating short stories which show me taking the images, or attempted occasionally an tremor by me to demonstrate some humour.
I enjoy seeing the photos of photographers I follow, when I can see or find them within the AI-controlled feed that is presented to me.
For the moment, I’m not leaving Instagram but just giving VERO a try in case things on Instagram do get worse.
Interestingly, Instagram apparently is pausing its fully-fledged move to a more TikTok-style environment, presumably in response to it observing the discontent. Time will tell whether or not their plans will change.
One simple thing Instagram could do is allow users to filter their feed themselves to their own preferences, or swing the balance of ‘interest’ back to the user themselves.
I suppose overall. complaints must be seen in light of the free service all such platforms provide. What right do I and others have to complain about something we enjoy for free?
More about VERO
VERO is a pleasing experience but does not yet have like-for-like functionality, e.g. I can’t post stories on there as I can on Instagram, well not as easily anyway.
VERO still has far fewer users than the beastly Instagram so browsing currently seems short-lived. If that encourages less screen time, maybe that’s a good thing?
VERO popped up in 2018 and failed to attract a big audience of followers and faded into the background. It’s recent resurgence has grabbed many people’s interest, and only time will tell if it takes off or can grow its following.
Without the ad-generated income and influencer following, VERO needs to make money somehow. The CEO of VERO has said that an affordable subscription will follow eventually but has pledged that the first million customers can have a free account forever.
Flickr
While writing an article about sharing photos online, it’s worth noting that Flickr is also gaining more interest, especially from those who used to be active there.
Flickr was one of the first photography-centric places to post and share photos. I have an account there but haven’t used it for years.
The reason Flickr lost so many users was when it was taken over by Smugmug and changed the site to a subscription service. Despite this though, with the recent events described above, many photographers are returning to Flickr.
Watermarks
Joining VERO has made me realise that most photographers do not watermark their work.
I started using a watermark a while back to brand my photos rather than protect them. Given that my photography isn’t my job, and I’m not reliant on it for an income, branding isn’t that big a deal.
It’s interesting to note though, that when I started putting my e-signature on my photos, a few friends fed back “Oh, very professional…!”
It’s even easier to remove watermarks now with further advances in software like Photoshop so using watermarks as a protection mechanism is a waste of time.
In light of the low use of watermarks especially on VERO, I will no longer watermark my photos.
I’ve become more aware that watermarks spoils the enjoyment of the photo rather than offer any wow level advantage in branding or theft prevention.
If someone steals one or more of my images, and I know about it, I’ve got the original RAW file and could prove it’s mine. Photography theft is probably a separate blog post in its own right.
Online Presence Improvements
My online presence relating to photography is now via my website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and VERO.
I had recently set up a Facebook ‘page’ for folks to follow my photography without having to accept strangers as friends to my main personal account.
I’ve also been able to add this Facebook link to the footer of my website now so logo links to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are there and my website host does this as a footer template just by me adding links.
As I’ve added the Facebook link, I noticed I could set the logos to colour rather than black and white which seemed a good idea. VERO is not available on the footer template, so I’ve just added that to my About menu on my website.
What started out as a new presence on VERO has led to me to sprucing up my other sites.
All of my links and shortcuts have been neatly collated using the free service Linktree here. This is quite handy as a reference, especially as Instagram only allows one weblink in your profile.
Onwards and upwards…