Say Something, I'm Giving Up on You

You know that relationship you know isn't good for you, but you're not quite ready to end it yet. Your still holding on with hope that things will get better, but with every encounter, you're getting more frustrated. That's my relationship with Facebook.If you've seen a lack of posts on my Facebook page lately, it's because I'm contemplating breaking up with it. It's no longer the predominant platform for my High School seniors, who typically prefer instagram and snapchat these days. They still log on to FB every once in awhile, but not nearly as often. As a senior portrait photographer, I gotta go where my people go.

Reasons I'll be using Facebook less and less.

1. It's bad for my seniors' self-esteem.

Depending on when I post, who I tag, how many times I've posted in the last week, FB decides how many people sees my posts, usually 2-5% of my total followers. For example, when I post two seniors' pictures back to back, the first senior's photos will inevitably get more likes because FB's algorithm leans towards the first thing you post. Even if both my seniors are EQUALLY gorgeous and the photos EQUALLY pretty, one of my seniors is going to feel less liked - not because anyone determined it so, but because FB decided for us.

Rule #1: Don't put your self-worth in the hands of Facebook, it'll crush it.

2. The Newsfeed is not current

Even though I set my newsfeed to "latest posts," a huge percentage of my current newsfeed is news from a day ago. It shows the most popular posts, but it may not be what I'm interested in. On top of that, posts that I've liked before a few days prior will sometimes randomly show up again on my newsfeed because more people liked it. It's like a popularity contest everyday, and it's exhausting.(Yes, I've done the newsfeed quiz, and it doesn't work.)

3. Professional photos look like Advertisements

I've had people tell me that when they scroll through their newsfeed, sometimes they ignore my posts cause they thought it was an advertisement. While that's flattering in some ways, I'm really quite bothered by it. On Pinterest and Instagram, it's normal to have higher quality photos, so professional photos fit right now. On Facebook however, if it looks too good, people perceive it as an advertisement. While I prefer my newsfeed to be of my friend's silly jokes and hilarious memes, it makes me wonder if Facebook is the right platform for photographers. At one point it definitely was, now I'm not so sure.I consider myself an artist more than a business owner. I just want my senior's friends and family to be able to see his/her photos.When I post pictures, it's rarely because I'm advertising myself, but I'm celebrating the accomplishments of my clients. These days, I just can't do that on Facebook. friendswood tx senior portrait photographer 4. Vertical Photos look terrible on the "New" NewsfeedI shoot vertical images quite a bit because that is the editorial style. When Facebook made the newsfeed larger, it increased the size of horizontal images and square images, and the vertical images seem much smaller in comparison. Not only that, but they didn't even bother to center aligned the pictures, making the whole thing look awkward.