I just read a book by Glenn Reynolds, "The Social Media Upheaveal". He says that we are deep reading less, and learning from headlines more. He also says that many of us share on social media articles that we have not read, more so share by the head line. I think it's important to write down our thoughts, so that we know where we stand on the issues of our time. My father used to say that you have to know where you stand, so you don't fall for anything. So, today, the best way to be more educated than the masses is to read more than the headline. Then write down our own thoughts.
Writing also helps those who come after us to see the person we were. It doesn't matter if it is a journal, a newsletter, a blog, or a spiral notebook. Sometimes it can speak to people here today, as well.
Like I just wrote a newsletter and shared it on LinkedIn, and it got many views. One person made a comment that what I said in the newsletter was an answer to prayer. To be honest, I didn't think I said anything profound. But we are all at different levels in life, and sharing helps each other it through life.
The thing about writing and reading blogs, is that you can connect the dots between thoughts and ideas. Although my newsletter is my favorite creative outlet, my blog is where I share thoughts that link it with the thoughts of others. A practice that is uncommon today.
For example, in the Art community I like to follow people who are successful doing the uncommon thing. Like it is said to be successful you have to have your own website or blog, with a custom domain name, and I have found this to be untrue. I also have seen several bloggers over the years who have moved back and forthe from having their own platform, to blogging on a community provider, just like I'm doing here with ipernity.
The big guy, known as "The Blogfather" is doing just that here. And an established journalist and Deacon I know does the same here. A very successful Artist does that here. Finally, we can't forget about the Blogger community, one example here. And the Tumblr community, here. You will notice that all of these do not have their own custom domain name, though one may be used to forward to it.
Some people say that podcasts are the new blog. But I say that more people are moving away from social media and migrating (back) to the open web with some sort of blogging. Just like it has been said that email is dead, but I would bet more people read email than social media.
All of this to say that the next step for my transition to ipernity is to forward my domain name - www.ipernity.frankjcasella.com - here (direct to the blog is fjc.frankjcasella.com), becuase this is becoming more and more the place where I develop my thoughts and ideas with pictures and words.
And I'm proud to do it!
Thanks for reading.
Frank J Casella
www.frankjcasella.ipernity.com
At MyOpera community I had a lot of good friends (or more like online acquaintances) who used to really read what I had to say, and I did the same for them. We also had there a very nice "Shoot & Tell" (S&T) group, where we had few great photographers sharing thoughts with each other. But then that MyOpera service became closed. I saved and moved my old blog articles to WordPress.com, and tried to stay in contact with some of my friends who also moved there. moreover, together with some of the Shoot & Tell group members we tried to bring the group here to ipernity.
Then ipernity took most of my time, and S&T group slowly departed. Very last effort was to try turning the remains of S&T into a shared blog at BlogSpot: shoottell.blogspot.com
Now I have given up with a personal domain name, closed the account at Wordpress.com, and focused only to keep my personal photo galleries and photos here at ipernity. I do have also accounts on number of other services (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram), but I am active only here, at Instagram and sometimes at Facebook.
Different services also have different uses. At Instagram I pretty much share only phone camera shots. At Facebook I keep in touch with my family and work colleagues. Then ipernity is sort of a hobby.
And the point of this rambling of mine is to say (once again) that we are social media nomads, all the time moving to green (open) pastures when other dry away (get closed). The sad thing then is that our writings then may become wiped away.
Finally some feedback, Frank ;-)
I recommend publishing the photo on your album only after writing the blog article here at ipernity. Very often people here follow only the photos of the day. If there is no link to blog article, they (we) hardly ever come back to photo to find the blog article.
Then please consider allow sharing also at Facebook. I guess you do not have account there yourself, but people like me then could have the share link via actions menu. Although, one can of course always just copy the URL and share it like that as well.
Frank J Casella has replied to Sami Serola (inactiv… clubAlso, as a part of my workflow, I make a PDF of each blog post when I'm done, especially since iperinty does not back up the blogs.
With regards to publishing, I usually upload the picture to my profile, then add it when I'm done writing the blog. Is this what you mean? I post a thumbnail on the blog because ipernity does't have right-click-protect deactivated, like we do on our profile images.
I will turn on sharing to Facebook, only because I remember at Flcikr when I did the image thieves pretty much went away. If you don't give them a way to share, they take it any way they can. But I don't care to give the greedy people at FB and Google more than I have to.
Sami Serola (inactiv… club has replied to Frank J CasellaSo, maybe I was just a lazy reader on the first time I saw your picture, and did not notice the link to your blog article.
But what I meant is that it is better not to publish especially the image before the article and link to it are ready. In similar cases I usually keep the image private until I am sure the link is added on the image caption alright, and the blog article is ready.
What comes to such web sites like Facebook and Google, they unfortunately make their own copies of any images shared on them. But even if you do not activate the "easy share" features here on ipernity, people can still just copy and paste URL for example at Facebook, and Facebook will then make it's own copy of the image on the referencing post.
But that simply just can not be avoided, and luckily service like Facebook also makes it clear that image belongs to somewhere else, and the size of such images is small. Moreover, Facebok also then blocks the possibility open the image or save it. Here's an example:
www.facebook.com/sami.serola/posts/10157603697567505
Frank J Casella has replied to Bee OrchidFrank J Casella has replied to HaarFager clubYou choose ipernity to host your blog: little by little I have more desire to exchange ideas on our site, because I am not a real photographer: photos are more a support for my ideas and feelings than a real form of expression.
But articles, like forums, are not a strong point of ipernity, especially since the old management has relegated them to oblivion (too little information on their publications). This is one of the improvements I will support: giving more visibility to the articles and blogs, which are one of our specificities. A number of members show their interest in this means of expression, which widely complements their artistic expression. It is a strength compared to purely factual and sensitive/instinctive social networks - i.e. not at all reflexive. Suggestions have been identified and listed on this topic by the ima. We have to support them regularly, make them heavy.
The debate, the real debate, is what our societies lack, our communities lack, which wish to take an increasing part in political decisions here and everywhere. True democracy is now there, in my opinion (and not on Facebook). But we still need to know how to channel it, how to structure it. And to give a real means of expression, temperate and reflective, to the most willing.
Thank you for your involvement in the life of the site and its enrichment, Frank.
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