Sometimes I Just Am Not in the Mood... (Of "Low Effort" posts and "Adding Value")
... to sit down and write a whole "long format" post. Like right now.
As you no doubt have noticed, I tend to use my own photos to illustrate my posts... which also means I spend a lot of time outside, roaming around with my camera. In a sense, it's a meditation. And a hobby.
A "Bachelor Button" flower after rain.
Macro photography has been an interest since my teen years. Back then, my friends with cameras would be busy taking pictures of people and parties and sporting events... and I would be out in nature with my nose to the ground, looking at flowers, insects or wildlife.
Not that I had any aspirations of becoming "the next Attenborough." I still don't!
The "curlicue" stamens of a hollyhock flower, in extreme closeup
So this is mostly a "picture post."
Personally, I don't believe picture posts are necessarily "low value" OR low effort. If the work is your own, and you went out to get the photos, then processed only the best ones to be "just so" and then created a post with appropriate captions... that's not low effort, at least not from my perspective.
Inside the center of a delicate violet poppy
Which, of course, brings up the whole issue of just what "quality" content means, and what "adding value" means.
From where I am sitting, it seems like it depends a lot on what individual perspectives and interests are. A simple "final score" from a sporting event has value to every person who follows the subject team or person. Particularly if you were actually at that event and added a little "color commentary."
To me, a good picture post has value for a couple of reasons.
The petals of marigolds are actually tiny "rolls" that unfurl as the flower grows.
First, it offers me — and hopefully the viewer — a brief moment of reflection and a "break of state" from the endless stream of bad news, angry opinions, political mudslinging and whatever else comes across our feeds pretty much... all the time.
Second, I am sharing an interest; I am hoping to show the amazing and intricate aspects of the natural world that typically go overlooked... in large part because they are so tiny that nobody notices them.
A ripe salmonberry, showing us things we don't normally see: notice the tiny gossamer insect "silk" between the hairs at left...
Of course, I do realize that there is a wide chasm between this post and someone simply nabbing another person's photo from the web — even from a "free-to-use images" site — and calling that "a post."
And even though I am calling this a "picture post," it is not "without words." I'm just not engaging in heavy political or philosophical discourse, here. My brain is still engaged, just not in Universal Problem Solving.
There's more to life than just intense thinking, all the time!
I'd rather be here, in our back yard...!
And sometimes, I'm just not in the mood for that, but I still want to create something. Something of value, that amounts to more than just a meaningless "placeholder.
We're having a heatwave, and right now dozing off in our shady hammock looks increasingly attractive.
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great final bit of your weekend!
How about YOU? What's your opinion on photo posts? Are they necessarily "low effort?" Does content not have "value" unless it relates to "important discourse" and solving the problems of the world? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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Created at 20210627 11:16 PDT
0286/1529
You're absolutely right: when original works speaks volumes on its own, there isn't much that needs to be said. It's a fine line to walk, but I welcome anyone who does it well. The irony of this post, however, is that you ended up writing quite a bit! You spun a personal tale around and in between multiple high-quality pictures... so the end result is a long form which seems contradictory.
But I'm not complaining! No shade being thrown here (although you could probably use it, literally)-- I just wanted to say that I agree wholeheartedly your sentiment, and that your pictures are AMAZING! That hammock scene really does look heavenly. Thanks for sharing, bro. :)
The irony was somewhat intentional @thatcryptodave; I'm just not that into "low effort" posting, even though I sometimes like to escape from trying to write something "deep and meaningful."
I try not to tailor my content around some kind of consensus as to whether it's "good" or "bad;" I just put stuff out there as it comes to mind, keeping in mind primarily the question of whether or not I feel OK about putting my name on the end result.
I can sure see why you like being in your backyard!
The photos are spectacular. I prefer posts that pack a wallop without sucking up 20 minutes of my time. Photography and short stories do that. They may take less time to peruse, but I know for sure they take a lot of time to produce. Well done.
Yeah, we like it out there... it's our oasis, in the middle of suburbia.
The "sweet spot" seems to be about 500-800 words that stay somewhat on-point. I find that relatively easy to do, as a result of having written for both print and online 'zines for many years... even though most of my writing tends to be flow-of-consciousness. The really long posts only come if I am trying to convey something that is not improved by breaking it into multiple parts.
First of all I enjoyed your posts, and beside just photos it contains some really great insights. For ex
And
And
And also others.
Value is both relative and subjective indeed. I don’t think something needs to be always informative or educational to be worth reading. For me anything that is a great experience to read/interact is valuable and worth my time. For others, may be not. But then again, it has been the case with almost all other aspects of life - “ You can please everyone for sometime, and some all the time. But you can’t please everyone all the time.”
Something similar happened with me with my last post. It ended up being just 600 words. I was skeptical at first if i should publish it. But I know the amount of efforts I put in. Most of my drafts are scraped off by 50%, and I ensured every sentence adds something new to the context rather than being superfluous. So technically my post might be shorter than others, I believed it contained value and it would be wrong to judge it purely based on word count. So I gave it a go. And fortunately it did well.
But to each is their own criteria to judge.
I could have made it more wordy. I could have stretched the story and included more pictures to make it appear as more valuable. And It might have got more rewards. But it would be counterintuitive to becoming a better writer, a better artist.
I think we should post what we believe in and put in efforts for. Sooner or later universe will comply, I hope.
Thankyou for sharing this
Best Wishes
That, right there, pretty much summarizes how I treat my blogging, and have done since I first started. And my first blog was in 1999, long before there was a blockchain, crypto rewards and a Hive.
I very rarely create a post from start to finish and then publish it. Typically, I have an idea, then I bang out a pretty rough draft, and then I let it sit for a few days while working on other stuff... then I read what I have written, and half the time I either edit it by half or more, or add something, or decide the whole idea was dumb and scrap it.
I am not so much a stickler for quality content as I am interested in adding some kind of value to the overall picture. As in, the world doesn't really NEED a 386th post about some token making a new high today. Sure, I might earn some rewards, but it doesn't really add any value to the information stream.
Very true, leaving the posts for some days and getting back to them later works wonders. Shows your commitment to your craft. Indeed great write ups are not written, they are sculpted. Great writing is all about rewriting. And I understand the amount of efforts it takes to produce an exceptional piece.
Huge respect for this 🙏.
Thanks for being the reason of inspiration and learning. Keep up the amazing work you are doing.
Best Wishes
What is deemed "quality" shall be determined by the stakeholders and in this case it's the communities/individuals here on Hive. Of course some might "misuse" their power and only push their own agenda, but I am hopeful that the majority will use it the right way.
I agree with you that not all good posts have to be political or thought provoking or whatever, it can be something light and can be a means of destressing, for the creator as for the one reading the post.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend 😊.
I often use writing (and photography) as a relaxation and meditation exercise, and to that end as often as not I am writing for my own benefit as much as I am writing for "public consumption."
As much as anything, the important thing (at least to me) is to use community tags appropriately; for example I would never dream of tagging LeoFInance with a post like this, even IF I might earn a few tokens. Communities are a way to stream content and aid in the content discovery process.
Same goes for not posting certain content in niche communities. It will make it harder for others to find the content they actually subscribed to if it gets flooded with other kinds of topics. We should be mindful in what we do I guess :)
@denmarkguy que linda publicación, sobretodo las fotografías!! Gracias!!
Thank you very much @egonz!
Your photos are always good quality and fun to look at.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then you just wrote a book !
Thanks for the kind words ***@jacey.boldart, I appreciate it!
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Yes! Thanks for saying this! I'm a relatively new Hiver, and I almost left (and I did leave the Black and White community) when I was told that my posts, which didn't include a lot of text, were "low effort!" The real problem seems to be that the community doesn't yet know how to value original photography. The success of Instagram suggests that photography has massive value to the contemporary internet user. If Hive and POB don't want my photos, I'll take them elsewhere where they are rewarded. Simple as that. Instead, let's appreciate the value that we get from photographers!
I think photography does definitely have value... I'm sorry to hear you had a negative experience with one of Hive's communities. Sometimes there are unwritten rules people decide on and hold everyone else to, which is unfortunate.
"Low effort" can mean different things; six different exposures of the same image in six posts might be considered "low effort,"but all six in one post might not... you just have to be patient and experiment your way there!
Yeah, thanks for the encouragement!
I definitely am in agreement with what you've written and how you've expressed your thoughts.
Content requires effort. Period.
Also, I choose being content over creating content! :)
I think that even if content is very simple, you can at least put a little effort into nice presentation and a short explanation of what you're doing.
Low quality!? Be real!I have yet to see it from you. Your pictures, your words always have meaning, pointless isn't in your vocabulary.
I hope people don't use harsh thoughts/words/actions on my posts. They usually come from the heart.
Hi Denise, just a reminder to the world that all things are relative! For me, it is much easier to put some pretty pictures in a post than it is to "logic out" something deeper, let it percolate for a couple of days, polish it up and set it free. But that doesn't mean my photo posts are low effort!
Your posts tend to be beautifully reflective and offer little respites of peace in an otherwise hectic world. And your hear does show... and that's a lovely thing!
What a nice comment! Thank you and I think everyone has a different way of presenting things, even pushing it aside for a few days to get a clearer vision.
I love your posts, the way you weave in the truth of the matter between the lines. You were probably one of the first writers that turned my head with how you wrote.
Thank you for that.
wow I love the color of that flower it looks super pretty
Thank you!
Hi, I have manually curated your content as you have posted a photo that I found interesting. Your post will be included in my Photophile series of posts in my blog. Keep on sharing great photos!
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Thank you for the support @photophile, I appreciate it!
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