Social media was intended to be a place where good people of all walks of life are free to express themselves and share opinions authentically. With the widespread censorship we’re currently witnessing runs contrary to this purpose.

Likewise, it is a false myth that our data is what we have to give up to have a great online social experience. Both Vivaldi and MeWe are “free forever” because privacy is not something anyone should ever have to pay for.

This is why I say that this Vivaldi blog, for me, is like Blogger without the ads, and with more privacy. If you have a blog with at least a contact form, and your posts become visible on the search engines, people who share your interests will start to contact you. And very often they’ll be people who don’t use social media.

Now I said on my first post for this blog that I would stay away from talking about my professional interests, but I have to make an exception this time, because I find this too important not to talk about. As an art photographer, I find that many artists use social media to sell their works and gain followers. But they forget that what makes your art distinctive is to be yourself.

So with all that is going on with social media now (with the exception I think of MeWe), we see artists changing platforms. I say why not walk away from social media and make your voice on a (Vivaldi) blog. Many times Artists say they can’t blog because they don’t know what to talk about, but they forget all you have to do is be yourself, just like your art.

So, if you are an artist, or photographer, I invite you to look into the business model of Vivaldi, that, like a photo sharing site, lets you see the image properties of photos on the web.

The key is to be intentional on how you use these platforms. Use technology to stay connected, but do so on your own terms.