Lens4anEye

Union Station, Washington, DC Social media was suppose to be "all things to all people." Its promise was to be an avenue of access for everyone to to have access to everyone else. The lure was for everyone to have a voice and be able to express themselves. But then it became its own worst nightmare. For early adopters it was like being able to walk around the town square listening to whoever was speaking, singing; looking at the sidewalk art and performers. It was the place to make yourself known for your message, art, politics, philosophy, etc. The atmosphere was more like a Renaissance Fair than livestock auction. The free exchange of ideas and culture became overshadowed by the sellers and professional advertisers. Every message was "brought to you by" some other paid entity. In short, the fun became serious. The content became business. The debate and exchange of ideas became propaganda. Information became co-mixed with disinformation.  Crevices and and cracks f...

The Benefits of Link Shorteners Making your links more stylish and readable makes people more comfortable in clicking on them. A long cryptic URL is not inviting. It doesn’t confer any information about where it leads. https://bit.ly/BraddockAlbum says that the subject is “Braddock” and it’s an “Album”. The person looking at the link may not know if Braddock is a person, place or thing but the context of the link or the search can narrow the interpretation.   Likewise the word “Album” could be music or photos. Context will again give clues to its nature. When you create a short URL with Bitly  it points to 1 location forever. The second part is yours the /BraddockAlbum part is a unique identifier. For example on the ClickaSnap photo sharing platform file names and album names are not exclusive to until user. Actually, a subscriber can use the exact same title on any number of photos. That is not a wise idea but it works. Within CAS many subscribers may create an Album u...

click for larger Image Active vs Passive Posting When it comes to public exposure for your photographs there are several dynamics at play. The analogue I think of is that of a high school dance.    Those people who arrive with a date will be able to dance every dance whether fast or slow. Additionally, in most cases, they know who they are going to leave with.    Around the perimeter of the room are the clusters of boys who don’t have the courage to ask a girl to dance. In a similar way there are the groups of girls who are waiting to be asked. They all will eventually leave alone or with their accustomed friends.  They are all passively waiting for something to happen to them.  Some guys, the jocks and cool actors, will seek out the popular girls and become the example of what everyone else dreams about. The girls make it known they are open to the invitations.  Never underestimate the power of the Wingman or Wingwoman in these social env...

  SEO for Greater Image Exposure [ Lens4anEye ] Your SEO status is important for getting strangers to see your photography. Search Engine Optimization is the holy grail of online marketing.    SEO is something you can do yourself or pay someone to do for you. Promoters promise a lot of results if you pay up front for their work. It is easy for them to make claims and difficult for you to determine if they are worth the costs.   In short, if you are paying any amount to a promotion site to increase your ClickaSnap visibility, it will probably be too much. If someone charges $100 for SEO improvements you would need 14,285 paid-views (at the Uploads+ subscription) to break even. At the typical ratio of 40% conversion you would need to get 35417 total views. With 100 images each would need 354 views.    There are many things you can do yourself for no money if you put in your time. Facebook pages are free. Twitter accounts are free. Instagram, tu...