Influencer Creep

It seems obvious that social media have drastically changed how photographers engage with the internet. In fact, for many people — photographers as much as the rest of the population — social media are the internet: this is where you either spend most of your time, or they provide the one jump-off point to whatever else is available online. As a blogger, my view of social media has always been extremely critical. Early on, social media all but destroyed the very vibrant community of bloggers, pulling basically everyone into their walled gardens. Initially, I found social media off putting because they forced everyone into the same formula (this was the time when it was still very simple to customize your own blog). In addition, the people behind the new development struck me as extremely shady. With time, I tried various social media. I left Facebook quickly because it was just too inane for me. I think I joined Instagram only after it had been bought by Facebook, meaning I did not…