This post is not really photography related, but once more meanders off into the realm of social media and such. I find it quite remarkable how history is repeating at the moment with the discussion about Pinterest and how it is a site that "promotes" copyright infringement through their linking, thumbnails, copying of "pinned" content to their own servers, and last not least, their terms of use. Sounds familiar? Yes, we heard all that a little more than half a year ago when Google+ launched.
Regarding Pinterest itself... I got an invite and checked it out, but decided that it is not for me. It's another iteration of Facebook's "Like" button and/or Google's "+1" function, except that Pinterest allows you to put your "likes" into buckets, to which people can subscribe, interest-based. It's a very nice concept because it allows the followers of a person to decide what they actually want to see, instead of curating "circles" (Google+) or "groups" (Facebook).
But personally, I'm not really a big user of the (external) "+1" button or Facebook's "Like" button. I do not wish to contribute to even more profiling about me and my habits and preferences on the web (in fact, I'm using browser extensions like "Disconnect" and "Ghostery" in an attempt to block most of the tracking), and Pinterest is yet another service that at some point will have to monetize by selling the user data and profiles they accumulated, just like all the others.
It's also a question of time. I do spend a lot of time on social networks - too much time, actually. And honestly, a +1 or a Like or a Pin doesn't pay your bills or keeps your fridge filled, and I think the effect of social networks to generate revenue is grossly overestimated (read "The hollow emptiness in social media numbers"). It's just so nice to hang out there, right? Now, if Google would pay me 1 cent for every click on one of my photos, it would be quite interesting, but as it is right now, I try to cut down my activities there.
So along with testing and abandoning Pinterest, I also gave up my account on 500px. The initial charm of the site wore off rather quickly, and looking at the "Popular" and "Upcoming" selections of photos doesn't really inspire me either. Compared to the old dinosaur Flickr, 500px's feature set is small, and while I wish them the best of luck with the "Market" that they're going to launch soon, I wonder how many photographers will upload their works full-size to the site (requirement: minimum 3600 pixels on the long side).
I see images being "stolen" (copied/downloaded) from 500px and other sites on Google+ (in the albums of hunters and collectors and self-proclaimed "curators" who in my opinion do little more than build a following by adorning themselves with borrowed feathers, drawing traffic and feedback away from the original artist) all the time, and I'll be damned if no one will find a way to rip the original size images off of 500px's servers.
I've been using 500px in the past as a simple portfolio site (with their "Awesome" option), but the choices of layout are limited. For just $20 more you can get your own domain(s) and a wonderful hosting package with Wordpress (or another content management system) - add a one-time investment into a nice photography theme, and you're all set and have more convenience than the limited choices a ready-made service like 500px provides.
Which is, needless to say, exactly what I've done for our photography business "Daylight Colors". Along with Pinterest and 500px went my own/old "portfolio" site www.alex-kunz.com, which was based on a mashup of Blogger, Picasa Web Albums, Dropbox and Fotomoto. While it was very convenient to upload a photo to my Picasa Web Albums and have it automatically appear on the portfolio site by setting a certain tag, being at the mercy of yet another service/provider (both Blogger AND Picasa Web Albums do not leave you in control of what's happening, feature and functionality-wise - they are free services, and you get what you pay for) was not too convincing in the long run. We're still in the process of building things, but everything will happen at Daylight Colors in the foreseeable future.
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