We are experiencing some of the most influential decades in human history. The velocity and creativity with which technological advancements are being made are utterly astounding (at least to a regular guy like me).
Photography – and the ways that we share our photos – is developing at breakneck speed. But we’re in danger of losing the security and integrity of our images.
You work hard to pay for equipment. You buy some lights, some software, and some flights to feed your need to discover beauty where others can’t see it. (It’s what we, as photographers, seek: undiscovered beauty.)
After spending time getting a photographic education, and after subjecting yourself to the elements and the tedium of waiting for the light, why are you compromising with the platforms on which you showcase your work?
The problem with many photography platforms
The largest photographic platforms have the right to reuse, repackage, and redesign your files as soon as you upload. After all that time, effort, and investment you put into the relationship between the platform and you, the user, those terms seem a little one-sided.
But we’ve lost more than our security and rights as creators. We have slowly and subtly lost the expectation that our followers, friends, and family will see our work.
There was a time when you could expect that your images would be shown to the vast majority of your network for the obvious reason: They were in your network.
Not anymore.
If your reach and engagement are dropping, I have some news for you: The algorithms controlling the feeds of your followers have deemed your posts less worthy. Not because what you’re sharing is poor in quality, but for some mathematically derived reason.
Luckily, it’s not all doom and gloom! As is the case with all inequalities, there is pushback. In finance, we have cryptocurrency, blockchain, and DeFi. Of course, none of this is without problems – but at the very least, it questions the status quo. In music, we have Rage Against the Machine, the Sex Pistols, and N.W.A., who broach uncomfortable topics and invite you to join them in asking “Why?”
Pushback is an inherent human trait, and as humans, we have an inherent love for it. We are rebellious by default.
Maybe it’s time for social media to receive some pushback. Maybe it’s time for users to have control over their data. Maybe it’s time for users to retain all ownership and rights over their images indefinitely. Maybe it’s time for users to gain control over who sees their content and whose content they see. (It’s radical, I know!)
Enter ClickASnap, the photography platform that pays
The mission of ClickASnap is to reinstate the rights of the user, which means that it offers significant security and privacy. While companies make fundamental decisions based on financial benefit, ClickASnap makes its decisions based on user experience and security.
It also offers payment. ClickASnap currently pays $0.70 per hundred views of your photos – any photos. And there are no algorithms affecting your feed, so everyone who follows you sees your posts. It’s that simple.
The platform is in the midst of a huge rejuvenation, and it’ll soon be paying users as much as 0.9 cents per view. To put that into perspective: For every 1000 image views, you make $9. And when you consider that there are many ClickASnap users with view counts well into the hundreds of thousands, it all starts to make sense. And it all starts becoming a little harder to ignore.
There is a paradigm shift happening in front of our eyes. A Huffington Post survey claimed that only 3% of people have “a lot” of trust that Facebook will secure their personal data. TikTok has reportedly been using user data, including the videos that are watched and commented on, location data, the phone model and operating system used, the keystroke rhythms people exhibit when they type, and the copy-and-paste clipboards of users. I’d love to say that this information is being used to improve the platform and to better serve you, the user – but I’m afraid that would be naive.
We’re moving toward a balanced relationship between platform and user, and it’s the user who will benefit the most. Your work should be subsidized by the traffic it garners; in other industries, that’s how it works.
ClickASnap is working toward a future where personal data is not traded like a commodity. A future where users aren’t herded like cattle toward generic, addictive, manipulatable content. I’m hoping for a future where users aren’t apathetic about the platforms that house their online lives.
What ClickASnap represents is the next generation of multimedia platforms. It boasts zero algorithmic interference, zero data collection, zero loss of image ownership or rights, and payment to the user for views of their work.
As the digital age moves further and faster, we’re learning more and more and sharing more and more – while security, website mechanics, and data collection grow more opaque. Priorities are shifting, and the dawn of the user is here.
So head over to the ClickASnap website. And see what ClickASnap can do for you!
ClickASnap is a paid partner of dPS.
