Has Anyone Used Reddit?

Hey Mike, happy holiday...I have tested Reddit. My google analytics tells me that many, many more people actually click images on reddit than any other social media I have tested. I am talking a twenty times the rate. So this would have to be good...but I am extremely skeptical of what it is all about. Mostly crappy photos and irrelevent garbage and viewers that are more immature (mentally) than most photo sharers (i personally dont get the attraction of viewing/sharing random images). Anywho, I have only posted as a link to the image so when someone clicks the image they see it in my AW site right next to the framing and product options. So it is "selling" but it is getting views. I dont see what you would get out of just uploading a straight image from your server.

I have "subscribed" to certain subreddits that might pertain to my subject matter of the image and only posted when I could see a fair number of active viewers (i like that about it...you know how many people are on there right this second). I cant see posting to subreddits with no current users..as my guess is that people only view the items that appear when they are logged on. I cant image anyone scrolls backward to see images they misssed while they were in the shower or at work but lord knows whats wrong with some people that are so obsessed with social media. Good luck with it...and by the way...they restrict you to posting like once every 8 or 14 minutes..so its a hassle to boot.

I had a little go on Reddit but didn't really get wrapped up in it.

I like to have streams and lists of things I'm interested in and building up that sort of trusty news flow takes time.

Sorry Reddit; not a priority on my limited hours in the day.

https://www.reddit.com/user/travelnotes

I Reddit, but not for art. I like it because it's pretty much the source for everything you see elsewhere on the web, including breaking news. I'd be careful about advertising anywhere you're not allowed, you'll get downvoted into oblivion and no one will see it anyway. There are subreddits for selling art, tho (just search for "art" and you'll find 'em). Also, limits for posting only exist while you're a newbie.

thanks for that TP, I didnt even know there was a "profile" page or list of what you submitted..i just went to mine and notice my past posts show as a question mark which probably means they were taken down as being "advertsing"....more weight to add to the ANTI side of the scale - still, I have 20 times more clicks on a few random reddit posts than I have recieved through FAA advertising and my twitter and facebook work COMBINED. I still think its a waste though..I will keep working at different things..

Thanks susan, my son has told me he gets news from there...i thought that was odd..I go to a few aggregators..but not reddit....anywho .....happy holiday

the format seems confusing there, but the dialog seems to be thick for some things. the ones that were colorized anyway, some were given many votes, and those images spread through the whole net. i found many years ago and i think the source was there. i wonder if just signing my name with a link would be enough to be considered advertising or not.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Oh yeah Mike, I didn't even think about that, colorization is a big thing on Reddit. My best advice would be to subscribe to the Colorization subreddit and hang out for a while, I'm sure you'll catch on quickly.

Robert, my first stop every day is to the Worldnews subreddit. Not only will you see it there first, but you'll see everyone's take on it, and usually uncensored as well. Best source of breaking news on the web, IMO. The News subreddit is good too, though the mods have a much heavier hand.

I reddit for youtube views on my channel but most sub-reddits frown on links sending you to a place where you can buy something... unless they are making fun of it... then its ok...

so far after being yelled at by the op for spamming my link (when i sign my name), it seems to be going over well. much better than imgur, where they all seem to want memes and that's it. all i have is: that's nice, or i hate colorized stuff and then marks all my stuff down.

but just earlier one guy said - he would buy it if he could afford it.and while i've heard that line before. i gave them my discount that didn't work at all for the past 2 weeks and the free shipping things so who knows. if anything the possibility is there.

the hard part about that site is - its a pain to use. its like using craigs list, just a jumble of stuff.

they didn't seem to mind having the link back to where its sold. what i did was, i sent up the compare version - where i have color and black together. then commented - to see the thing large see this site, and it goes to this site (well the art site). and they don't seem to have issues with that because they can see it up close. they just didn't like me adding my main link every time i signed it.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

yes...reddit frowns on marketing..anywho..good luck..thanks susna, I am sniffing aroung the worldnews uncensored ...thanks

Mike wake up! YOU'RE ON THE FRONT PAGE!!!! Woo hoo!

susan, where do you see him...i rarely ever go to any of the faa sites..but just went to http://fineartamerica.com/ and do not see him

LOL! On Reddit! :D

LOL - i need holiday...oops...just had one

People on these lists have used Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/domain/fineartamerica.com/

https://www.reddit.com/domain/pixels.com/

https://www.reddit.com/domain/artistwebsites.com/

so its been about 4 days now. the first 2 days i got a lot of hits, but they frown on direct links to stores, watermarks with .com addresses, any kind of watermark.

4 days out and my hits went down to 10 or so a day if that. so i don't know if it will work out. combine that with persistent trolls trying to take you down, so many rules, and each subreddit has its own rules you have to keep straight. you get a score up or down. thing is, it never shows you how many downs you have. i can't find that.

they layout of the site is a bad mess and really hard to use. most controls are gray on white. and when i get a message i don't know if its private or public, it all gathers in the same place. i can generate views on the ART group, but no real hits back here. one image since this morning has almost 10,000 views, it has my name on it. and a link in the message, but like 2 clicks... there might be brand recognition, but i'm not impressed.


imgur has a possibly way to viralize something. that site alone i can get like 1000-2000 hits. there are always people marking you down. but eh.

due to the rules, messy site, and lack of attention back, i'll probably just drop the place. the better ones are invite only. unless i can find a better place. the colorize group is for learners, all of them asking for lessons.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Michel, TP,

The big problem with those lists is that artists selling primarily to artists is not a great constant income stream.
It becomes a misuse of time.

Dave

the theory is, buyers stumble across the streams. but thus far i kind of hate the site right now. i'll look into something else, seeing as this looks like a waste of time. maybe instragram. i think they make a pc version of it now.

---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Mike, using Reddit is not necessarily a waste of time; but constantly checking on the stats might be.

thus far, they seem the grade the person or the watermark more than the image itself. so the score is kind of silly. when a troll told me i was stealing images and calling it my own when i refused to share technique. suddenly everything i uploaded went down 5 points. that's annoying. and since i can't even see what the score became (no stats on that), its all the more annoying.

one site says to give credit to the artist, so i did - to myself, and was called a spammer and the work stayed a zero. so for that site i linked directly to my art site, didn't label my name in the title like others did, and i'm betting i will get yelled at anyway. as it is the bot there keeps telling me to add flair to it - something i totally forget due to the ridiculous nature of it. i am getting views, its hard to say if it helps or not. i wish i can see on imgur how many if any facebooked it or tweeted it. the best i can do is check the stats there and see if anyone came from those spots.

---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Michel,

I do not believe in competition. Competition only exists if you believe in it.

If someone else believes in competition they can shoot themselves in the foot with it all day long. That is their
problem. I do my own thing.

Competition is more a state of mind than anything else. You do not have to believe in it.

Mike,

You often write off SM. I can understand writing off Reddit. But here is a list of SM I do not write off, FB, Twitter, G+, Linkedin, Tumblr, Flickr, WP.com
Pinterest. With the exception of Flickr where you can not post a link, it does not matter how many images are posted along with yours because
your images are completely different. The other images help serve up your images.

Imgur is for younger men. Demographics matter.

I doubt Instagram has gone to the PC platform, but I would welcome it if it did.

Dave

you don't have to believe in competition, but its there anyway. if you were the only one, you would be selling faster than it can be printed. but there is always someone else.

i never wrote off SM, i can only go by the numbers.


tumblr - no hits ever
twitter - hits are diminishing, it might be a temp thing though
facebook - have some hits, i post to these anyway btw.
google - no hits
linked in - not a place for pictures, more of a resume. i'm on there btw. no hits.
flickr - never liked it much, a lot of work for not selling things. some have results, i have not written it off.
wordpress -- never wrote it off, just not on it.
pinterest - some hits

imgur - young people - many with blogs, if they like it they may show it off as a thing they found. demographics - don't matter much. its who else see's it or who they show it too. or years down the line they recognize it and then buy it. i sold a tshirt at another place of an item i posted there. hard to say if its connected.

instagram did go that way according to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/instagram-search-web_55ad2d24e4b0caf721b355af if not now then soon.

reddit - directly linked in the right group is giving me great results, i never had 12 people at once see my site. as far as i know i can link direct in that group

in any case, i never wrote off things that you say. i'm not impressed with the results is all i said.

but competition is everywhere, if you think its not then your only fooling yourself. at the very least your competition is anyone that also sells classical paintings or does something similar.

---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Mike,

Competition is a nonstarter. It only exists as you perceive it.

But that is your business, not mine.

People that sell anything close to my art, more power to them. They are blazing our trail for sales. Making my work
commonly accepted.

Dave

Users still can't create content using Instagram's desktop service, though. Editing and posting pictures are done only on mobile.

I've used Reddit for a while now, and just don't see this as an avenue for photography. I've tried it a few times, but Reddit seems to be all over the place. Twitter, Instagram even ekk...Pinterest appears to be much better option.

Ricky
http://rickyljonesphotography.com/

@ dave i totally perceive it. if you don't believe me do a search on this site. and you'll see the competition. they don't have to look anything like your work. they just have to take users eyes away from your work, and that's called competition. i don't think there will be many if any taking your style and using it.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

imgur mostly has people looking for random things they can take off the web so they can then get status points which they can't do anything with. i've had some nasty remarks on some of them, but you can mark them down. i still think it was a fluke that i got anything. i think it was the right place at the right time. but it does show up in google very fast. faster than this place. i have google's word alert thing, and it seems to only find that site.

i think that site likes cheap tricks. like a kick to the groin shot would probably do well there. but my main reason to be there is for image recognition and well, sales.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Your last image must have gone viral....


Imgur is over capacity!

Sorry! We're busy running around with our hair on fire because Imgur is over capacity! This can happen when the site is under a very heavy load, or while we're doing maintenance.

Please try again in a few minutes.

for a site that deals with images, it does that a lot. they also claim server maintenance. a refresh brings it back.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Over capacity used to happen a lot on Twitter, with the whale.

Does Reddit blow a gasket?

haven't been there long enough to see what weirdo graphic they chose to show they need to really upgrade the servers.


i'm thinking its mostly text so they probably don't have an issue. only some sites like to be cutsie.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

I've seen the Reddit server go down plenty of times, but there's been no accompanying mascot. I'd be afraid to see what they'd choose for that, frankly. I don't venture too far out of the walled garden I've built for myself there, it's uhhhh... troubling.

I win and the guy/gal that could have gotten the order, loses.

Robert,

Your art has to sell itself more than your words. If your art sells no one else lost a possible order. It was yours for the taking.
Not anyone else's.

But when FAA sells some of your art, I gain. FAA makes my life as an artist more workable. I hope my fellow artists are selling well here.
I see that as a win for all of us. Not ever my loss.

I do not categorize people as winners and losers. That is not up to me and I doubt god would ever do that. It is just very poor thinking.

Dave

on reddit/imgur people behave weirdly. i put something up and it will get downvoted immediately. this time i put something up an hour ago and it already got 2 downvotes bringing it in the minus range. looks like some are really bent on keeping others down.

Menega,

Not that I have any clue, but are more serious artists kind of frowned on? Meaning that kids just want the weird stuff there?

Or are you in a part of the site that focuses on more serious art? How would I find such a part of that site?

Dave

there seems to be a task force their to uphold something. if they don't like you, they mark it down, if the group doesn't like it - they erase it. if you say its funny and its not, they mark it down. if they like the before picture better, if you climb higher than theirs, they mark it down. even on the group i'm in where the is no down arrow, they mark it down somehow anyway. its sort of a childish game they play there. especially if it gets to the main page. on IMGUR its even worse. i'm amazed that some images don't get marked down at all there. imgur likes hot girls, and memes. sometimes soldiers. i have one that has 9 points. i made the mistake of posting something that i thought was funny to the humor section it had like -12 points just like that.

i only place things into fine art. on reddit finding the right sub is hard. each one has its own rules and each one has its own supporters ready to defend "their" turf. each person becomes a moderator of what they like or don't like to see and i haven't found a good match yet. however i'm after views not points, and they all seem to get at least a 1000 views and people don't seem to have a problem finding me. hard to say if its creating sales or not. so for no.


mostly they want to see junk from phones, funny things, things that make you say hmmm. nudie things, and generally found images they can take credit for. the art sub only seems to like paintings and sketches, they started erasing my things there so i gave that one up. the pics group is even worse, i dropped that too.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Is this one of those things where the things with the most up votes get pushed to the top and the the ones with the most down voted get pushed to the bottom?

There are people on those sites that have no other life but sitting there voting everything down and have multiply accounts to vote themselves up.

Total waste of time messing with those things if that is what it is, imho.

But I have no real idea what reddit is. I have seen it a few times but it totally lacked appeal to me. Not even enough to check it out to any degree so I really don't know anything about it.

I was typing the above before you made that post.

It sounds like you are at the mercy of what ever wacko group or groups that decide to screw with things there. Seems totally lacking in any professionalism.

It may be more negative PR than positive to even have you name associated with it. But like I said above, I really don't know much about it.

on imgur i put my stuff in the design and art section. on reddit i put i subject specific, the last 2 in the fractal subforum apophysis. i'm getting my downvotes on imgur though, right after putting things up. so it seems there is a downvoting society going on there. totally nuts. reddit has some good, interesting and informative places although those are the text based threads and forums. picture forums are dfficult there.

Don't worry about the ratings on imgur.

Post what you feel like. Have a link on your profile page.... and forget it.

Or, play the game!

My photos got downrated, so I added memes. They liked those. Not my pics, but some people might click on the profile.

http://imgur.com/user/travelnotes/submitted

As for Reddit, forget the photos and get in there to talk and be 'known'.

Create your own subreddit and you can even get something of a promo profile going - but don't tell them I told you.

https://www.reddit.com/user/travelnotes/m/travel

Not saying it's a route to massive recognition, but it's a subtle avenue to your work flow.

its not a waste of time, its just another form of advertising. i already got one sale from imgur, but i still call it a fluke. you can get on the front page easily as long as you have upward points and people viewing it. there will always be haters, but there will also be lovers. and with hope people will spread the image around. hopefully with my watermark. i've seen images done there that were posted in facebook, so they do spread. and as long as people are curious they may look at it. usually my reception is more positive then negative and i think the haters are jealous anyway.

imgur doesn't normally get art there, they don't know the work that goes into it and they are not the - fillet mignon crowd. they are the hamburger i found sitting on the street - crowd. low brow and nudes get higher points. if you get too many low points there, they erase the submission. there is a lot of junk there. but on that site alone i can get 2000 or more views.

i'm only interested in views and getting people to recognize my work. on twitter i'll get like 2 hits on a good day, with this i get a lot more than that. but they don't like direct linking, or spam watermarks, so it is tough. the thing i have to remember is not to attack the trolls there. many like to bait. and every time you reply they can mark you down. so i'll just try to ignore the bad ones.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Floyd, there's not much that can be considered negative PR online; when a link is a link.

There's always a chance that someone will click on it.

Michel
✈ TravelNotes.org - The Online Guide to Travel.

yeah it gets one lots of views and the images are picked up very quickly by google, that is why i'm bothering with the site.

"Is this one of those things where the things with the most up votes get pushed to the top and the the ones with the most down voted get pushed to the bottom?"


Waaaay before I came to this site, I belonged to one (started with a 5, ended with px), and I think the problems caused were finally done away with, but they had Like and Dislike buttons. A lot of "games" by some members were played there also. I finally had enough of it and left. Print sizes were also limited and cropped if you had a store there also.

on imgur - you get right into tineye - in seconds. so there is a chance at getting seen there. on reddit, you get into google very fast. and i have found many things stumbling into that site. there is a hope in there.

eventually i'll see what i can get out of instagram if anything.

i don't care for sites with voting systems. its abused. there is no filter on people's mouths, they do cast out trolls but there are plenty of haters there. i post one thing a day and check now and then on it. i really should be a part of the community more, but i just don't wanna.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

I have been saying that here for months. I totally dislike how people will abuse voting. It ruins every little thing about a site.

People play baseball with it. The whole thing becomes a massive insecure mess.

You want to get me off the FAA forum get a like button here. Everyone and everything here would change overnight. The most insecure people
in the world would rule. Just a matter of a couple of hours with those buttons.

Dave

PS FB is the one exception to that. So it depends on the context of the SM. But everyone on FB is constantly smiling at everyone else's baby pictures.
Twitter is all spam unless you go really slow with it. Posting an image every other day sort of thing. Twitter is so impersonal it can not be insecure. lol
The more common forums get ruined very badly by like buttons. And over nothing. The programmers think they will make the forum popular. Just wrong.

i think facebook is getting a thumbs down button soon.

twitter doesn't work because spam programs are too aggressive, and they aren't seeing the tweets or the request. facebook sort of works but it depends on your friends friends, how many of them post stuff, blocking your stuff. but i still post to these because there is always a chance.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Talking about stumbling, does anyone still use use Stumble Upon?

http://www.stumbleupon.com/

I used to have quite a few followers but I think they followed to get followed back and I hardly ever followed anyone there.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/Travel-Write/connections/followers

Mike - Twitter works for me.

Dave - There is a lot of link spam but it (Twitter) is far from impersonal.

To make it work, you have to be social.

https://twitter.com/TravelTweet

Mike,

A dislike Button on FB will be a disaster. Imagine people saying your baby pic sucks? LOL bout time. LOL

Michel I know Twitter works if you do not spam. That is what I am trying to say. There are communities or groups
of twitter folks who get together and refuse to put up with the spam. It is an amazing situation. Like little fish at the bottom
of the ocean avoiding all the sharks. They are fish so they stay in the water with the sharks, but swim elsewhere in a school.

Mike, FB works by joining groups with ten thousand or more people and getting to know people in the groups. If you angle it the right
way like Floyd selling western art to western buffs who do not often discuss western art, then you have them to your lonesome.

Posting images on your FB profile means NEXT to nothing. Most of us have a lot of artists as friends. Good luck.

Dave

no one uses stumble. that place is a random roulette wheel. and they are very picky about what goes in.

i'm getting more twitter hits as of lately, so maybe its working again or something. but i always post there, i used to get more from it though.

they want to put the thumbs down for bad news. i just broke my arm, i lost all my teeth, i have cancer, my dog died, i was fired, etc -- doesn't look good with a thumbs up. but it will totally be abused.

to join groups you have to have a moderate interest in the topics. i don't. i also don't have time to chat. and i don't think they would want my spam anyway.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Mike, how do you know what your Twitter results are without a short URL with stats (or do you - sorry I haven't tried to find you on Twitter so have no idea how you tweet)?

i only tweet the artist account then i look up anything twitter related in analytics. usually it will have a t.co ending. the engagements and the like don't mean anything. in a week and a half i had 45 hits from twitter, and i think like 75 from facebook.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com