Does traditional social media stifle creativity?

Some ramblings, and some photos!

Joining Hive was a happy accident, after having a twitter conversation with another photographer, who had written a blog, in which he had mentioned Hive. I ended up on the Hive website, randomly clicking links, and landed upon a page of mesmerizing colourful buttons, of which I had absolutely no idea what any of them represented. A few more tweets later I was on board, with no expectations and absolutely no idea how Hive worked.

Because the only social media I've ever known has been algorithm based, and much more populated, Hive felt very different. It's harder to find people to follow on Hive, one has to put in some effort. In contrast, I joined Twitter at the start of the year (not because I particularly wanted to be on twitter, I just didn't want another Cath Gothard to get the cathgothard twitter handle. :) After joining, I followed a few people that I already followed on Instagram, then the Twitter algorithm suggested I follow a load more photographers, most of whom I was already following on Instagram. Twitter knew what I liked.

The algorithms have made me very blinkered on social media. I ONLY follow photographers. The nice thing about Hive is that because I had to do my own searching, I've come across a broad range of people, all doing different cool stuff. By following a wider range of people I (attempt to) learn about Hive and about blockchains and finance, look at original artworks, listen to music, as well as all the photography stuff. I don't do all these things on Instagram or Twitter.

I work as a 3D character animator. Since I've joined Hive, I've started to think about maybe doing some 2D animation that I can do on my own, just for fun. Maybe I could start by making an animated banner that I could add to my posts, or an avatar...? These are ideas that have no doubt come from looking at some of the animations posted by creators on Hive. Using Instagram and Twitter has never expanded my thoughts like this. It will definitely have to wait until I'm in between jobs, but I really want to try some new things.

Writing about my recent camera outings has also made me realise I am in a bit of a creative rut. On Instagram, I post one image a week, and because my Instagram grid is curated VERY carefully, it doesn't look repetitive, and my limited subject matter isn't obvious. In fairness to myself, I am photographing about 1 square mile of parkland. But I could try and challenge myself - for example, go out with just my macro lens, or my wide angle lens, so that I can't default to my trusty 24-120mm lens, that I use for the majority of my images. I want to see the familiar, with different eyes. None of this would have occurred to me, if I hadn't blogged on Hive, about my mornings out with my camera.

I also need to get back into the city for some Londonscapes...

So to answer my question, I think that the algorithms on Instagram and Twitter, while useful, are also a hinderance. I now prefer Hive, and I intend to use the platform for a long time to come. :)