At the end of 2022 I would still consider myself a so-called “small creator.” I’ve been the playing social media and algorithm games for a few years now. Some months I would try hard and some months it seems like I forgot that I’m supposed to be some sort of internet creative or something. Life and other things get in the way of your focus like the year 2020.
Anyways the point is, I knew a few things about the whole trying to grow a social media audience thing. A tangible achievement that I do have is recently gaining 100 subscribers on my YouTube Channel, John J Images in the year 2022.
Here is the link to my main internet video presence…
https://www.youtube.com/@johnjimages
I was able to achieve the 100 subscriber mark after roughly 40 videos. A somewhat random 40 videos on different topics, lengths,and editing styles. Some were cinematic, others were a bunch of no editing off-the-phone videos. Though almost all have the overall theme of adventure. Adventure in the mountains or by the ocean. Adventure through cultural lessons and theories. Or adventure clothing and gear.
My Instagram on the other hand has a pathetically small number of 300 (who knows how many of them are creepy bots) followers and at this point in time… it looks like the future of Instagram is dark and downhill, at least for tiny creators like myself who were in the photography game. Some photos I posted took a lot of HUMAN effort to capture, edit, and write a caption for, though let’s be honest, almost anyone with a nice smartphone with fancy AI imaging can take great images these days that look like they were taken from a much more dedicated DSLR or mirrorless set up. Be honest photographers, be honest. If you’re not doing a ton of super telephoto wildlife, bird, macro or astrophotography… the DSLR/mirrorless camera you’ve been carrying around begins to look really, really heavy.
I still love photography, don’t misunderstand me. I am just really aware of the painful amount of time I invested trying to make Instagram grow through lots of adventure related stories, pretty pictures, opinion polls, short vertical videos, and somewhat personal stories where you show a picture of the person behind the camera bla bla bla. The point is it’s extremely hard to grow on Instagram these days as just another adventure photographer with a moody editing style. It’s been seen a million times already.
I’m trying hard not to be a starving artist. My time and energy needs to be focused on content that makes a reasonably good profit in a reasonably good amount of time. Therefore I refuse to listen to the starving artists or people who live in the clouds that cannot comprehend the fact that they need money to survive and to be a realistic human being with a balanced life outside of content creation.
In some ways, maybe this is a bittersweet goodbye letter to the former part of myself who was a low key try hard at the Instagram photography game.
Though if you for some reason want to see occasional stories about adventure and fat animal memes (it shows how much I care about looking super professional on Instagram these days) you can follow me on IG. Here is the link…
https://www.instagram.com/johnj_images/
Now I also tried creating content for Tik Tok and Twitter, though in all honesty those felt like learning experiences that consumed a lot of energy. Tik Tok seems like you can have some wild random exponential growth, especially if you keep posting. Though to be honest, I don’t like using the platform as a consumer. I feel like my brain cells are being killed with dancers dressed in some really weird fashion choices and short goldfish attention span random off-the-phone videos.
Twitter looks very controversial at the moment with the transition of power. Honestly, I don’t really know what to make of the whole Twitter scene yet. These days, I mostly use it to keep track of Earthquakes near me and possible typhoons. I did gain some attention on Tik Tok and Twitter though it’s not necessarily anything very significant.
With AI, new direction of companies, everchanging algorithms - I think for now, it is better for me to focus on two big channels or two big platforms for my content creation. Which looks like it will be my YouTube channel and my official website. For now in late 2022.
Starting and growing a YouTube channel is far harder than it looks. You need to find something meaningful to share and present in a way that is beneficial to the watcher. Why would they watch your video out of the millions out there?
My adventure themed YouTube channel that is focusing on life in the Philippines through a Filipino American lens in 2022 has grown significantly. In my opinion, 100 subscribers on YouTube is far more meaningful and potentially far more profitable than 100 followers on Instagram, Tik Tok, or Twitter.
Personally I really like YouTube as a platform because it is not only for entertainment, it is also for education and information. I feel like I can low-key say that I earned some sort of funny internet “bachelor’s degree” from watching a ton of informative YouTube videos, ranging on a variety of topics from astrophysics to zoology. I am sure there are many people out there that have learned a thing or two, from the massive platform we call YouTube.
So because I’ve experienced the informational and educational value of YouTube and because I feel like the growth there is far more meaningful. Most likely, I shall have a lot of time and energy focused on creating content for that platform probably for the next few months. I hope to get monetized soon. Though it seems like it will take a lot more videos for me to get there. Who knows what the future holds.
In regards to my official website johnjimages.com, I am still putting time and energy into it because this is a platform that I have massive control over. I am in control of what gets displayed, because it is my website. Many of the articles that I write of course live in the cloud though some will also be posted on my website. It is a digital backup of sorts and a neat place to look at past writings.
Maybe after I post a sizable number of blog articles on my website I will publish a more organized E-Book in regards to the idea of living in the Philippines as a Filipino American.
Who knows what the future holds.
Thanks for reading! Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more content like this. If you’re a small creator, what are your thoughts on the brave new age of social media?