Effective daily/weekly Flickr routine?

[Nikolai Fellini]

I returned to Flickr about 6 months ago (after many years away) and I wonder about an effective daily/weekly routine. I tend to be on & off Flickr most days. I enjoy Flickr, posting my work, appreciating other's work, and learning from them. Here is what I do now (in no particular order):

1) Of course - upload my new photos, add to groups (spread this out over several different times/days). Note, I am testing Skedr.io to automate this.

2) Look at the Flickr activity feed to see what the people I follow are up to. I comment those I like, and fave only the best, so I can return to them & see what I can learn.

3) Look at notifications, to see anyone new who is following me and what pics of mine have activity.

4) Check out the stream of anyone who recently followed me, and typically I follow them back, comment those I like, and fave only the best.

5) Look at what groups the best SL photographers/bloggers are posting in. Join the ones I am not in.

6) Scan my favourite groups to see what's new, comment or fave accordingly.

I currently do not reply with a "thank you" post to those who commented on my pics. I feel this just creates a lot of noise, but I feel kind of bad about that. I don't want to be rude, and certainly appreciate people's comments. Is this something I should do?

What am I missing? What do other photographers/bloggers do?

 

[Cinnamon Mistwood]

That sounds like a full time job.

My Flickr routine is uploading a pic a few times a year.  Two or three times a month I scroll down the people I follow and like a few pics.  I rarely even look at comments because they all seem to be "awards" for just posting in groups, so they're pointless.

Many people use Flickr all the time, though, for self promotion and advertising. 

[Nikolai Fellini]

40 minutes ago, Cinnamon Mistwood said:

That sounds like a full time job.

My Flickr routine is uploading a pic a few times a year.  Two or three times a month I scroll down the people I follow and like a few pics.  I rarely even look at comments because they all seem to be "awards" for just posting in groups, so they're pointless.

Many people use Flickr all the time, though, for self promotion and advertising. 

I am a retired RL fashion photographer, so I compared Flickr to my old RL schedule. I do have more time than most, but as much as I like creative pursuits, I want to streamline the process, so I can have more time for other interests as well.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

1 hour ago, Nikolai Fellini said:

What am I missing? What do other photographers/bloggers do?

I don't do any of that, to be honest.

I post a photo and include a list of what I'm wearing in the description (though I'm probably going to stop that practice soon as I plan on shifting my account to a less fashion-focused direction), and submit it to a handful of my favorite groups. Five to fifteen at most these days, and include store groups to give a shoutout to the creators. That's it.

[Rowan Amore]

2 hours ago, Nikolai Fellini said:

I returned to Flickr about 6 months ago (after many years away) and I wonder about an effective daily/weekly routine. I tend to be on & off Flickr most days. I enjoy Flickr, posting my work, appreciating other's work, and learning from them. Here is what I do now (in no particular order):

1) Of course - upload my new photos, add to groups (spread this out over several different times/days). Note, I am testing Skedr.io to automate this.

2) Look at the Flickr activity feed to see what the people I follow are up to. I comment those I like, and fave only the best, so I can return to them & see what I can learn.

3) Look at notifications, to see anyone new who is following me and what pics of mine have activity.

4) Check out the stream of anyone who recently followed me, and typically I follow them back, comment those I like, and fave only the best.

5) Look at what groups the best SL photographers/bloggers are posting in. Join the ones I am not in.

6) Scan my favourite groups to see what's new, comment or fave accordingly.

I currently do not reply with a "thank you" post to those who commented on my pics. I feel this just creates a lot of noise, but I feel kind of bad about that. I don't want to be rude, and certainly appreciate people's comments. Is this something I should do?

What am I missing? What do other photographers/bloggers do?

 

Effective for what exactly?  

[Nikolai Fellini]

6 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

Effective for what exactly?  

I want to see the work of as many highly skilled SL photographers as I can. I want to learn from them. And as any creative person, I want to put my work out there. And I want to encourage beginner SL photographers the same way I have been encouraged --- And be efficient in my time, as I have other things to do.

So I am asking if others have better ways to do this on Flickr.

[Aiyumei]

What I noticed is that people are on Flickr are most active during the evenings and mornings US time. It's when you will likely see the most posts, comments and likes.

If it's attention you seek, then blogging is the way to go, follow 10,000 people and at least 5000 will follow you back regardless of the content you make. As for seeing the work of highly skilled people(depends on what you mean by highly skilled. A simple pic can look better than one drowned in editing), it's not as easy to find them. Although their work tends to stand out it's really matter of perspective and your way to appreciate art. Some do it for blogging, others to express themselves and some throw randomly now and there incredible pieces of works. When you go around some of the more popular Flickr groups you will find them. There's no easier way except for someone recommending you artists to follow.

There are also various photography related inworld groups where people share their works as well as discord groups. Black Dragon's official discord group is one such example.

And not to brag or anything but you can also look me up and check out my works. 

[Nikolai Fellini]

4 hours ago, Aiyumei said:

And not to brag or anything but you can also look me up and check out my works. 

I found your Flickr stream and fantastic! I look forward to following your work!

[Nikolai Fellini]

Just found a better way to see the latest work of those you follow. I had been scrolling through the Activity tab, but I just found the People tab. The default search shows the latest post of everyone you follow in a stream format. So it is much easier to see.

[Nalates Urriah]

On 5/7/2023 at 7:29 AM, Nikolai Fellini said:

I returned to Flickr about 6 months ago (after many years away) and I wonder about an effective daily/weekly routine. I tend to be on & off Flickr most days. I enjoy Flickr, posting my work, appreciating other's work, and learning from them. Here is what I do now (in no particular order):

1) Of course - upload my new photos, add to groups (spread this out over several different times/days). Note, I am testing Skedr.io to automate this.

2) Look at the Flickr activity feed to see what the people I follow are up to. I comment those I like, and fave only the best, so I can return to them & see what I can learn.

3) Look at notifications, to see anyone new who is following me and what pics of mine have activity.

4) Check out the stream of anyone who recently followed me, and typically I follow them back, comment those I like, and fave only the best.

5) Look at what groups the best SL photographers/bloggers are posting in. Join the ones I am not in.

6) Scan my favourite groups to see what's new, comment or fave accordingly.

I currently do not reply with a "thank you" post to those who commented on my pics. I feel this just creates a lot of noise, but I feel kind of bad about that. I don't want to be rude, and certainly appreciate people's comments. Is this something I should do?

What am I missing? What do other photographers/bloggers do?

 

I never understand where people come up with and why they are concerned with "Should". If you are religious your shall and shall not's are defined. All else is someone's opinion. Why take 'their' opinion over your opinion?

If you are asking if saying thanks is courteous, I think so. But that is my opinion. You are right that often saying thx is superfluous chatter serving little purpose. You have to decide what works for you. I personally like being thanked. But I don't thank people for favs. I do thank them for their comments.

Diversity is part of being human.

[Nikolai Fellini]

9 hours ago, Nalates Urriah said:

If you are asking if saying thanks is courteous, I think so. But that is my opinion. You are right that often saying thx is superfluous chatter serving little purpose. You have to decide what works for you. I personally like being thanked. But I don't thank people for favs. I do thank them for their comments.

 

That is what I was asking. When I 1st returned to Flickr 6 months ago, I read about all the things people did just to boost their account. The "thank you" comments seemed like just a way to double comment count. Now that I have been active for a while, I think my judgement may have been a little cynical. It takes time to say "thank you" and many probably appreciate the courtesy.

[Hymn Celestia]

On 5/11/2023 at 5:03 AM, Nikolai Fellini said:

That is what I was asking. When I 1st returned to Flickr 6 months ago, I read about all the things people did just to boost their account. The "thank you" comments seemed like just a way to double comment count. Now that I have been active for a while, I think my judgement may have been a little cynical. It takes time to say "thank you" and many probably appreciate the courtesy.

There's a balance to be struck here, I think; and from your original question about a daily AND WEEKLY routine it seems like a good idea if you want to save your "thank you"s for a once a week project.  Once a week, go in and give some thanks.  Gratitude is always endearing but as with anything else, too much of a good thing spoils it maybe. (?) So with your daily routine set, you can now focus on things you'd like to do weekly and the gratitudes can be one of them. 

I think another thing you might like to add to the weekly photography-mindset (or maybe it's a thing you can meditate on monthly instead, if weekly ends up being sessions too close together)  is to "Take Stock."  Take inventory; take stock; take a good look; take a moment to remember what it is you've done and what it is you'd like to do.  Take a look at what worked; take a look at what got you some good audience appreciation.  Take an inventory of the props you have or need; take an inventory of the settings you've already used or want to use; take a broad-stroke big-picture overall perspective of your artistic journey and where it's going and where it's been.  Sometimes that means, too, changing the permissions on older photos (private only maybe, instead of for public to still see) so that what is left for the public to see represents a more unified vision or skill level.  (If that's important to you. For some artists it's not; for those, seeing the whole journey from the undeveloped to the finessed is desirable.)  So, doing a nice check-in once in a while to make sure the photos you want to be seen are visible; the photos you don't want to be seen are not. 

 

[ValKalAstra]

I really can't claim to have got any kind of weekly routine, nor can I really claim much Flickr success. The most attention any of my works has gotten was a couple of hundred clicks. However, just from experimenting with different approaches a little, I think Flickr Engagement mostly depends on three plus one factors.

• Groups. How many groups you have posted it in. I've had subjectively meh images of mine (to my tastes) reach silly amounts of engagement, because I just spammed it across dozens of SL Flickr groups.
• Flickr Handshake. You like mine, I like yours. I engage with your pictures, comment, chat, etc and mine get the same treatment. It's a social media website after all and thus just interacting with people usually gets you noticed in turn. 
• In SL World Groups. Just like the first point, being active in the various photography groups in world can further bring engagement. Say, I make a new picture and then post it in various photo groups, then interact with people that replied to it.

So if you're looking for a routine, I would say make it an effort to scout out groups a picture might fit in, engage with people on their works on Flickr and be active in photography groups in world. As long as your interactions have got that social element, I think it'll be a successful form of engagement and also fun. At least to me, I enjoy talking pictures with people - if only most weren't so scared of giving feedback.

[Jordyn McGregor]

I'm like, THE WORST Flickrite/Blogger in existence cos I don't play the Flickr "fav/follow" game.

I post pics, rarely acknowledge or respond to comments, don't follow many people, don't fav many pics - only ones I REALLY like, post my pics ONLY in groups they should go in instead of EVERY group I belong to...etc.

I guess this is why I am lucky to get 30+ likes on pics I think are pretty good.

[Chic Aeon]

On 5/7/2023 at 8:15 AM, Cinnamon Mistwood said:

That sounds like a full time job.

My Flickr routine is uploading a pic a few times a year.  Two or three times a month I scroll down the people I follow and like a few pics.  I rarely even look at comments because they all seem to be "awards" for just posting in groups, so they're pointless.

Many people use Flickr all the time, though, for self promotion and advertising. 

 

I never played the Flickr game. Back when I joined there were too many really horrible "photographers" buying both likes and followers. Then the "I'll like you if you like me" thing became vogue.  Once the donut guys bought out Flickr they really lost me. Now I post shots leading to blog posts rarely I even telling the creators that I blog for still (mostly old timers that don't us BlogOtex) that the best way to see what I am blogging is to check their tag on the blog.  If there is something really special about a picture OR I feel like I haven't put anything in a creator's group for awhile I upload. 

I also used to put the Flickr pictures on my blog FROM Flickr. Then when the photo sharing site changed hands I lost a ton of blog pictures because I had to take so many shots off OR pay for Pro and when the site wasn't working a good portion of the time that didn't seem too promising.  Now I upload all the photos through Blogspot.  

If you are going to be a typical blogger (that should be in quotes I guess as most Flickr Bloggers never actually WRITE anything on their blogs other than the names of products and links to venues) then playing all those games is very important.  

I, however, have pretty much always done my own thing and I am happy with that LOL.

[JeromFranzic]

I'm not a blogger, and therefore don't feel the need or pressure to post every day or several times a day. At the moment, I post probably a few times a month. 

I don't mind at all if my view counts go up and down like a roller coaster. I pay for two accounts on flickr, RL and SL. Not too bad as I only have to pay every couple of years, I have a Pro account on both.

So ya, y'all (bleep)ing free users should thank people like me. Really, I don't mind. You're welcome.

[Doris Johnsky]

Nicholi? Thadt's pretty much my Flickr routine. I do it about once a week not daily. Late!y I've been taking photos of DJs  at a club I frequent and posting them in the club flickr. 

 

I always give the DJ a full perm of the photo. 

Edited May 24, 2023 by Doris Johnsky

[PJBear Bitey]

I don't blog.  I've been posting pictures every day since I joined SL. Well, everyday I'm in SL, not every day of RL time. With very rare exceptions, I post directly from SL.  

I've never known how to use Groups. Mostly because people use those auto-group thingies and put their pictures in 800,000 groups, regardless of what the actual group is about. So I only ever rarely post in groups. Mostly when I get invitations to do so. 

I also rarely use tagging. Occasionally I will, and I do see an increase of views when I remember to tag my pics. Just takes too much time to add tags. Especially when I have about 8 trillion pictures. 

Where do I find people to follow, like, etc.? I look at profiles inSL and see if anyone links to a Flickr page; wander around on Flickr using specific words; faving interesting pictures; looking at the fave page of those I follow; etc. etc. 

Eh, I mostly just use Flickr to have fun. No real idea what I'm doing.

I also post on DeviantArt, but I've less idea of what I'm doing there.  And you were talking about Flickr, not other places.

[SLIM Barrowstone]

I POST on  DeviantArt, flickr and some Pinterest,Instagram and then there is the new one that wont flag you b/c of your pics at all and its called  https://slushe.com/ alot of people have been going there since Flickr is trying to force people to pay 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/slim_barrowstone/

https://slushe.com/Slimbarrowstone