Why I'm Scaling Back on Social Media

Meta Changes

When I joined Facebook in 2008, I wasn't sure it was for me. You see, I had a toddler and baby about to be born and I saw this as a platform more geared to professionals and people growing in their career. I was a full time stay-at-home parent who did some freelance work. I wasn't looking to grow my career yet. The platform used to ask prompting questions like, "What did you accomplish this week?" I began engaging with some real world answers like, "Wiping noses and making snacks." And before I knew it, the Facebook culture shifted to friends and family sharing details, the joys and the hard parts of their lives. Then games Memes, advertisements and groups!

In came Instagram about 2012, when I joined it as a space for sharing photos. Those were the early days of SmartPhone cameras, and when I look back, my first Windows phone photo was blurry but it documented the moment well enough that I shared anyway. Who doesn't love a 4-year-old standing next to a life sized R2D2 robot with a toothless grin?

Today, I find myself at this cross-roads: I've started my business and grown it, evolving from sharing my art photography to providing photography services for nearly 12 years. Now, META the parent company for Facebook and Instagram was updating their Terms of Agreement for business accounts. As it stated in October, anyone with a business account agreed to META scraping their accounts and any websites LINKED to those accounts for their AI.

This violates my own ethics to protect my clients. Their photos are NOT open for AI training. Only they may give that consent. I made the decision to update my Instagram accounts to no longer share client photos. Then, I removed my Facebook page. I honestly have always enjoyed Instagram more, so I kept my accounts but removed my client's photos. Only those of my nature photos or behind the scenes or myself stayed.

And, again, META has made an update! If you'd like to read more about META's October Terms of Service plans, I recommend starting here. Then, give this one a read too, as it looks as though they are not moving forward with these plans...which is GOOD news, but I've lost trust in the company as a whole. I will continue to use Instagram cautiously. I'm making more changes as a result.

Remember marketing before social media?

In the scale of history, Social media is but a small spark in the world of marketing. Back in the beginning of America from Colonists to country, we had services that met the needs of the community, whether that be a small town or city. You'd see a Blacksmith, or a market square with produce and vendors, people that met your needs. You may find you needed a new coat and went to a nearby city to visit the only tailor in 20 miles. You get the picture - the services and products met the needs of the people where they were.

Now, we live locally but parts of our lives have reached the global economy. Some folks work internationally from home. They still like the convenience of walking to their local coffee shop, but buy a fun gift for their friend online shipped from Thailand. Marketing continues to be a business to get business. As a small, local service provider and artist, my marketing has grown online through social media because it's the most convenient way to get attention which leads to business. However, when I think about which leads come my way, it's more often than not folks looking for photography services in my city. My location is what matters the most, not my social media numbers.

getting local with my marketing!

Going back to the days of personal connection and being in community, I will be making these changes: I'm still not going to show my client work on social media, but I will share some behind the scenes of us working together, and sharing key updates with my or my family. The rest will be done directly through my Newsletter and through in person events. If you'd like to keep in touch with the latest, please consider joining my newsletter here.