Instagram's product head Adam Mosseri stated in June that Instagram is not just a photo-sharing app. The company has been shifting its focus to video and shopping. What does this mean for photographers looking to share their photos on social media?
Tom Watson, a former product design at Facebook and Pinterest, says that photographers have been lacking a social network for some time. Watson and Stefan Borsje co-founded Glass, an iOS subscription-based app that is designed to provide a home for photographers.
Flickr's acquisition by Yahoo was a disappointing moment in my life. I have always loved photography. Watson shared his love for this kind of geeky photography community with TechCrunch. You started to see the momentum pick up with Instagram, which took the torch to the mobile space. However, I was there when Facebook bought Instagram and could see how it would eventually be where it is today.
It might seem strange to pay a monthly subscription fee for an app to those who are used to free, ad-supported social networks. Glass costs $4.99 per month or $29.99 per year, but you can test it for free for 14 days. The app will still take your App Store payment information immediately. This could make it difficult for some people to use Glass. This is an intentional model. Borsje and Watson are trying to create their app, which has only five members and no venture funding. They want to be able to answer questions from their photographers.
Watson said that he wanted to try something new and launch a social subscription business model. He also wanted to start a venture capital-free startup. We've seen what happens when venture capital is used to reach the moon. To become more diverse, you keep moving away from your photographers community.
It is obvious that the Glass app places a lot of emphasis on photography from the moment you launch it. Followers will see their posts in a stream of images that is designed to minimize distractions. You can't see the person who posted the photos if they are too large for the screen. Clicking on an image will reveal its caption and any other details about the photo's creation. Although you can interact socially by leaving comments, there are no likes for photos. Watson said that some users have requested a like button to help them bookmark images for future browsing. Glass will soon launch new discovery features like categories for photos. Glass has a feedback board that allows users to submit features and to upvote/downvote other users' ideas. Glass can choose to create a suggestion and it will be noted on the board as in progress.
Glass is still in its early stages but already stands out from VSCO and Instagram by offering EXIF data. This data is like candy for the photographers Glass wants to attract. EXIF data can show the camera used by a photographer, along with the ISO, aperture and shutter speed. It also shows the focal length. In its early days, Flickr was a place where people could share their data. However, Yahoo made Flickr more personal than a community when it gave users unlimited data up to 1 terabyte. SmugMug purchased Flickr in 2018 from Yahoo. It tried to backtrack by limiting free users to 1000 photos and warning them that they could delete photos they had not upgraded to a paid plan.
Glass is also appealing to photographers because it allows for larger image sizes. The maximum aspect ratio on the app is 16x9, which can accommodate standard camera photos. Instagram has since abandoned its square image theme. It is not possible to upload vertical photos from most cameras on Instagram without cropping them. Glass, like VSCO, doesn't display the number of followers a user has. However, you can view comments. You can't see the followers of others, but you can see who follows your account.
This was our opinion for safety. Watson stated that if someone follows you, they need to be identified and blocked. From the beginning, we wanted to create reporting and blocking features.
Watson refused to reveal how many people have downloaded the app to date, but Watson stated that he was extremely pleased with the response to Glass. The app was launched in August with a waitlist, and opened to all iOS users on Wednesday. The waitlist was not created to generate hype. It was meant to ensure that the user experience is smooth and the app doesn't become overloaded. Watson stated to TechCrunch in August that Glass was sending out hundreds of invites every day at the time the waitlist launched.
Watson stated that while I have been using the internet for a long time, I felt like there was a safer and more comfortable place. This subscription model will allow these spaces to feel that way again, I hope.
