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Uninteresting photographs on Twitter

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
I sometimes come across photographers who want to be on social media. Invariably, the question comes about building a group of followers. I often argue that the quality of pictures is of little importance, what is really necessary is to post regularly.

Look at this account: https://twitter.com/UninterestingP4

The account is about uninteresting photographs. The account has 7000 followers. I know that celebrities can have several millions, but 7000 is not that bad for a largely anonymous account with self-professed uninteresting photographs. The account posts several images a day, in a one hour rhythm (I suspect that the posting of pictures is operated by a bot).
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
"I often argue that the quality of pictures is of little importance, what is really necessary is to post regularly. " ==> I second that.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
It’s very interesting. But isn’t advertising fake news itself and faked Instagram followers is really just an updated version of housewife’s saying how there lives have been made divine by

  • “Bounty” paper towels!
  • “Cascade” dishwasher soap making glassware glisten like the sunlight breaking through trees on an alpine ridge at sunrise!
  • “Invokana”, an oral diabetes control drug, allows some overweight people to obtain normal blood sugar levels!
In the latter case, no one mentions the fact that just 15% drop in weight might also normalize blood sugar!

So these actors essentially all spout invented and even exaggerated praise and affirmation of products, which perhaps, they might never even use!

....Pretty close to fake instagram armies of “likes”!

?‍♀️?

??

Asher
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
Of course advertising seeks to embellish reality. Of course, social networks are used by advertisers, because that is where the customers are.

In this thread, however, I discussed something much more limited: what motivates people to watch our pictures? It is a question all photographers face (and not only photographers, all creative people). Note that there are countless books on the subject. But these countless books are also all about another motivation, making money.

In the cited example, we have something quite different. The person behind the "uninteresting photographs" does not appear to have any monetary incentive. Neither does he or she seem to have bought an army of followers (I did not check all 7048 of them, obviously). The only part that is a bit odd is that this person also follows about 3000 other accounts. Follower count is still increasing each day on that account, BTW.

Most people have less than 100 followers on social networks. Quite a few have less then 10. That is actually normal, just count the number of live friends that were interested in your travel photographs before the Internet, and you are not likely to find a lot more. The Internet did not magically change that.

With a bit of word of mouth effort and good photographs our fellow member Robert Watcher reaches 1239 followers on his instagram account. I believe this figure to be roughly what one can expect from organic growth and good photographic work. Maybe twice that amount, but not much more. I checked the follower count of several illustrators and that seems about right.

The "uninteresting photographs" account is markedly different. The only explanation to the high follower count is that it posts very regularly. So regularly that I suspect it to be operated by a bot, some software that manages posting at fixed intervals. But there are comments and answers at irregular intervals, so there is also a real person posting.
 

Tom dinning

Registrant*
I don’t tweet. My grand son set up an account for me which I have never used.
I wonder if I have any followers.

Then I wonder what purpose a follower would serve.
In the big picture a few dozen relatives and friends doesn’t seem to serve any function in the way we distribute our photos.
Then again, I’m not in that crowd.
I guess I like to know who’s following me.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
First, thanks Jerome for returning us to the original topic.

That way we will all benefit from your discussion.

The "uninteresting photographs" account is markedly different. The only explanation to the high follower count is that it posts very regularly. So regularly that I suspect it to be operated by a bot, some software that manages posting at fixed intervals. But there are comments and answers at irregular intervals, so there is also a real person posting.”

That suggests a highly motivated and organized person.

This is similar behavior to an artist who builds some “performance art”, unexpected behavior that is displayed to people in some community. So this could be the work of someone researching the behavior of the internet. Then one could modify the approach and test the occurrence of any improved outcome. The motivation then might be the thrill in succeeding and the utility of knowing more about this powerful new medium!

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I have studied the person’s Tweets back to January 15th 2019. What’s impressive is that (s)he has apt terse often very humorous and/intelligent responses that are apt.

These responses could be from
a programmed fake “Tweeters” (s)he has created, (essentially a personal “cadre” of imaginary associates).

It does appear that in the earlier pictures, the framing was better for this horizontal wide screen and might have been done individually. But more recent images tend to cut off showing less forethought, orcelse consciously framing badly!

The number of personal interventions needed per day is not a huge burden as long as the programmed “BOT” regularly does its job of monotonous posting. So the actual responses might be to real non-fake Tweets by real people.

What we do know is the person(s) Behind this project is pretty damn intelligent and witty, likely highly educated, at least in the humanities.

Asher
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
The number of personal interventions needed per day is not a huge burden as long as the programmed “BOT” regularly does its job of monotonous posting. So the actual responses might be to real non-fake Tweets by real people.

That is what I think as well: a bot for the pictures and real written text from a human being. A clever one.

The unsolved question is: where do the pictures come from?
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
Your instagram account is still in your signature, though. But I understand that Instagram may not be useful to your business.

About the "uninteresting photographs" twitter account, I intend to look up the number of followers regularly and report here. I find it a fascinating experience on the subject of social media. So far, growth appears to be steady at about 4000 a month. That is quite impressive.
I also find it more interesting to study the effects of social media on twitter rather than on Instagram. First, I don't have an Instagram account so it is more difficult for me to follow. Second, I think that Facebook (Instagram's owner) is more active in tweaking who gets to see a particular account.
 
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Jerome Marot

Well-known member
I forgot to post this in January: the twitter account @UninterestingP4 was indeed a social experiment run for a year: 15/1/2019–15/1/2020 by a freelance journalist called Chris Packham (not the same as the British TV personality). In the course of that year, the follower count accrued to over 38 thousands.
 
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