8 Sept 2019, 22:31
Vero 
Alternative to Instagram
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Hello all
I am losing interest in Instagram - there just appear to be too many issues with the algorithm
And Facebook taking over the app.Does anybody know of an app that is more artist from focused - it’s great to get interest from the general public - but I was hoping maybe there is another platform that caters to the artistic community
Any thoughts?
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I'm not sure there are any Apps that are specifically for the Arts community, but I can say that ArtStation as a hub is growing in popularity. The challenge with it is that it's mostly other artists. It's a bit like Behance without being so overwhelmingly Adobe brand-centered.
Instagram and Facebook were good because they could reach outside that artist circle to buyers who aren't artists.
I've personally contemplated this a lot. I had some hiccups with Instagram but things seem to be back on track. I use it not to reach anyone interested in my work but to simply share and put things out there in a stream that doesn't require people to come to my website. 99% of my followers are fellow artists. And that's good in the sense that I want to see and support their efforts. But not necessarily in a "I want to purchase a print" kind of way. I don't think Instagram is as useful for leveraging sales as it used to be.
Facebook is experiencing an entropic decline for numerous reasons. And Tumblr pretty much imploded. Snapchat seems very juvenile in a lot of ways... And Twitter can be a morass of noise and nonsense impossible to rise above or even mitigate at all nowadays.
The vast sea of social media options seems to finally be reducing down and the new platforms are becoming more and more specific. I don't think it's possible to think of Social Media the way we thought of it 10- or even 5- years ago. It's not the same path to "connection" or "finding one's audience" that it used to be.
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Following. I share the same sentiment. Instagram really doesn't feel worth it. But it's the best I've got at the moment next to my personal website.
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Vero
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There's Dribbble, (intentional 3 B's) I've only used it a little. It's geared towards graphic designers, but I've seen some illustration-y pieces on there. It has a more professional feel to it, but I'm not sure how many people actually use it.
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@Ryan1106 youtube?
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@Ryan1106 Deviant art is mostly dead even the groups mostly do not answer any more. Artstation is a lovely site and very professional and you can sell your prints on it. but I find it a bit lonely, as there is not really much social interaction between artists. I still find instagram the most friendly site, but I have very low engagement there. I find Behance really nice but a bit intimidating.
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You could try finding some Discord servers.
They can be very specific, but a couple of the ones I've been on are quite social.It's more like oldschool ICQ than Instagram though.
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I'm pushing less into Social Media these days. I've had huge growth on Behance in the past months, simply because Ive actively posting work in the portfolio and work in progress sections (WIP on Behance is like an Instagram story). Behance is great because you can create your own portfolio site on it too and you can communicate with other artists on it. You can build a little community on Behance too.
Don't use DeviantArt, I was on there many years ago and deleted it and recently and deleted it again too, that site is a cesspool and it's full of pornographic art. The redesign is awful, full of bugs and it's just a horrible site to use. I got blocked several times in the forums just for sharing my art, when it says its a community it makes zero sense to me. I can't even view the site on my phone because my ISP views DeviantArt as a porn/adult site.
Twitter is ok, it takes time for me to build a following on it.
Also Instagram is going weird these days...its like its full of bugs because my follower count changes a lot (it goes up and down)I watched this video by Dave Morrow on Youtube. He makes some brilliant points on Social Media and honestly, Im beginning to feel the same way about it in the last year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMKZa-yPvUA
He makes wonderful points on the usage and leverage of it.Hope my feedback helps!
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@juliekitzes LMAO
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I think I'd get more views on my art if I went outside with it stuck all over my body than using the internet these days, but I like Artstation for its portfolio and I have my own website which I never update because I'm too busy working on new stuff.
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Hello!
Are you questionning the platform only or the general use of social media?
You said it is nice to get general public attention. It is nice, but is that useful? Depending on your expectations, you might find Linkedin, twitter, youtube, etc. more relevant to you. Have your work been noticed in a way a more traditional method would not have permitted?
I know someone who made immense efforts to build up a large following community in the hope that a certain percentage of his followers would support him on Patreon and help him to switch career towards the illustration industry.
I think you have to see social media as a mean to reach to your objectives and, depending of your goals, some platforms will be more appropriate than others.
By the way... I am on Insta. But I am not a professional! I use social media for entertainment and support (to keep me going). Now, the sense of community is stronger on this forum and I usually discover more interesting artists by recommendations on podcasts than by scrolling down FB or IG.
If I were a business owner (meaning an independant illustrator), I think I will give a lot of thoughts on my strategy (as time is money - strong assessement on time to value is required), taking into account where I am at in my carreer.
I hope this helps!
Julia
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@lovetherobot Totally agree about Deviant Art a lot of times my art ends up on a page beside something really disturbing, which then gets more likes than mine.
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I was just searching for alternative to Instagram on alternativeto.net and one called Pixelfed came up which looks like and Open Source alternative to Instagram built on the same sort of technology Mastodon uses. Looks like you can join different servers or host your own one. More info here: https://pixelfed.org/. Looks almost same layout as Instagram as well- found an artist on it after Googling a bit: https://pixelfed.social/deerbard
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This isn't really an alternative to Instagram, but Twitch has been gaining more popularity within the art community lately. There aren't as many artists or art viewers on there compared to other networks, but the audience is much more invested.
I tried it out one day not expecting to have anyone tune into my stream, but to my surprise I actually had 1-2 people start watching and asking me questions about my art and my process. It was pretty cool.
It definitely takes a certain personality type to live stream, but if you're the kind of person who likes to talk to themselves while drawing, it might be something to consider.
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I would highly suggest listening to 1 Fantastic Week! Their last episode especially - they talk about how to drive up followers and how those followers can turn into sales - but most importantly how it’s a platform to tell your story and get people to fall in love with you.
I love SVS because they teach you the methods of making, and I love 1 Fanastic Week because they teach you how to turn that skill into $$$, from experience.
All that to say that I think Instagram can be used to high success - depending on your involvement with it, and more so if you look at it as a job. -
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