To be or not to be...social on social media.

Besides this blog, I have a Flickr account. I’m also on Instagram and Facebook.

My blog gives me a lot of satisfaction. It’s a place to ramble on about my old cameras and lenses and it gives me someplace to hang up the photographs I take. Despite an irregular schedule of posting new content, I have quite a few followers and site traffic increases year after year. The posted comments and emails I get are almost entirely positive and fun to read. I am grateful for the connections I have made here.

It’s much the same over at Flickr. I post the images I make that I am most proud of and that I think other people might like. I also put up tons of pictures of my gear—those tend to be the most popular and many have made it to Explore. Flickr comments are generally positive…people saying nice things about my work or my cameras or asking questions. I’ve made some nice online friends on Flickr.

My Instagram is a mix of my analog photography, some gear photos and occasionally some personal images. Instagram socialization seems to be limited to “likes” or short, mostly positive comments.

I joined Facebook years ago mostly to monitor the paid social campaigns I was working on for my clients and to manage Facebook’s paid ad programs. For years, I hardly posted anything personal to the site. Gradually, I joined some photography groups and as I did, my time on Facebook increased. I’ve had a lot of pleasant digital interactions on the platform, but I also notice it is a place where people can be very inconsiderate. It even seems to be okay to be cruel, unkind and thoughtless.

In one of the groups, a new member posted a photo of her just acquired Pentax ME and she commented about how excited she was to get her first “real camera.” What followed was a tirade of not so friendly comments…

“Real camera? Why do you think the ME is real camera? Simple, basic.”

(photo of Nikon F3) “This is a REAL camera!”

(photo of Canon AE-1 Program) “Real camera!”

“When you a ready for a real camera, I have some suggestions”

The member did not respond to any of the comments or post anything further. There were some positive comments and likes as well, but the negative ones probably made the budding film photographer feel bad and that is certainly not what this community should be doing to a new member.

I do think social media platforms are great places to share, meet and learn, but I also think that the relative obscurity of the technology allows people to be less sensitive to another human being’s feelings than they would if they were looking that person in the eye.

We seem to be living in a time when it’s ok to say whatever is on your mind without regard to how it might affect someone hearing or reading it. I certainly respect everyone’s freedom of expression. I just hope, in our little film photography corner of the social media world, we can all be kind, considerate, thoughtful and helpful. I know I am going to try harder.