Myspace, Linkedin, Facebook, et. all

[David Spivak-Focus Magazine]

So I keep hearing requests from photographers if I have a myspace or facebook or any of these other social websites account. My answer is always no... but now I'm hearing from some people that these websites can be used as some sort of marketing tool for photographers. I'm curious as to how many photographers use these websites to promote their business and if you've had any success off of it.

[Gordon Moat]

I have been on MySpace for about a year. Initially I decided to go that route based upon several PDN Forum photographers (pros) I know that are there. It can be a little useful in marketing for those willing to photograph bands and musicians (one of my specialties).

FaceBook is #2 in social networking, though more business like. I only recently found that you can list as a visual artist. So since I am in the process of launching a new website, I also listed myself there yesterday. Definitely too early to tell, and I could use some suggestions to figure out how to best use this resource.

LinkedIn is mostly business, with minimal contact information, beyond specialty. I have that too, though it has only been a slight change in work. I managed to get a few gigs out of that networking, and pointed some people towards other specialists.

Anyway, really just another form of networking. You could get out of it what you put into it, though like anything there are no guarantees.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography (http://www.gordonmoat.com)

[Duane Polcou]

As a photographer who regulary utilizes and photographs models, I belong to and use sites such as OneModelPlace and ModelMayhem, networking sites for both models and photographers.

Most photographers listed are professional, semi-professional or serious amateurs. I would estimate 20% of the models listed are actually working models with credits.

You will endure a lot of "MySpace" flotsam such as not using real names, that horrendous habit of mixing capital and lower case letters within a word, snapshots, providing way too much useless information, etc.

If you are willing to wade through all of this and have the portfolio, published credits, and references to back it up, some worthwhile connections can be established.

[Ron Bose]

The girlfriend has albums of our wedding work on Facebook and refers people to them ...

[photopam]

hmm.. ok.. let me share with some information that could be of use to all you guyz here.

There is an app called "Funcaster" that allows you to display your photographs, and other media like video and audio and you can go around with it at all places. like you can add that in your profile and display it across Myspace, Facebook, linkedin or whatever.

I have just created one for me, have a look at http://www.myspace.com/callmetrendy

Try this out!

Cheers
Photopam,

[Joakim Ahnfelt]

WARNING! If you're going to post photos on Face book beware that they will own the use of your stuff for eternety. Read the terms and conditions carefully if you intend to put anything there. There's been a lot of debate lately here in sweden regarding Face book and the ownership of content.

[Gordon Moat]

Just to see what has been mentioned about FaceBook, here is the relevant information:

When you post User Content to the Site, you authorize and direct us to make such copies thereof as we deem necessary in order to facilitate the posting and storage of the User Content on the Site. By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content. Facebook does not assert any ownership over your User Content; rather, as between us and you, subject to the rights granted to us in these Terms, you retain full ownership of all of your User Content and any intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights associated with your User Content.

So if images are removed at some point, then they no longer can use the images. Still, probably a good idea to be careful about posting images.

I ran a clarification e-mail past MySpace about having my copyrighted images on their website, and their policy does not allow them usage across other media. Flickr and other photo sharing websites have similar usage issues, though it is possible to limit how, or if, your images get used. Any public internet websites will have similar issues, so read the fine print, get your settings correct, and don't just leave images in the ether . . . delete and change content often.

Photopam, thanks for the slideshow suggestion. Unfortunately it came up with a Server busy, please try later message. Does it seem to do this often, or did I stumble onto a rare glitch?

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography (http://www.gordonmoat.com)