5 Reasons Photographers Should Use Twitter
Written 12 years ago by Lee
Many of you will already be familiar with Twitter but for those who aren’t, it’s a service that allows you to post short messages (tweets) to your network of followers. It’s grown massively in the last year and has become a useful tool to people in all areas of life, including photographers.
For example, we have a Twitter account where we publish our updates, post tidbits of information and pretty much keep our followers up to date with whatever we’re doing behind the scenes. We don’t have a massive amount of followers but the great thing is, we don’t need to.
When you publish a tweet, if one of your followers finds it interesting they might retweet it, meaning not only your followers get to see it, but all their followers too. Maybe one of their followers will also retweet it, taking it even further. I’m sure you get the idea.
What does Twitter have to do with photography? Here are 5 ways photographers can use it to their benefit:
1. Get Exposure
You’ve been out with the camera, have taken a wonderful shot and you want to show it to as many people as possible. If you’ve published it online somewhere like Flickr, or maybe your own website, you can publish a tweet about it and instantly let your followers know it’s there. Even if you only have a few followers, 1 of those followers could have thousands of their own. If they retweet your link, you’re instantly exposed to thousands of people.
2. Stay Updated
You can also keep up to date with the latest work from the photography community. If you follow accounts that you’re interested in, you are notified on your Twitter homepage of their tweets. For example, if you follow us, you’ll get a tweet telling you that we have a new article or photo published, as soon as we publish it.
3. Quick Tips
Sometimes we’ll share a quick photography tip. Twitter limits posts to 140 characters so it’s perfect for short, quick advice that wouldn’t be enough to justify a blog post. There are many other people on Twitter that ONLY publish these quick tip type tweets, so if you don’t want to be bombarded with links and updates, just want the quick tips then just follow them and you’re sorted!
4. Get Your Questions Answered
Maybe you’re struggling with something and want some quick advice. Publish a tweet asking a question and hopefully 1 of your followers will be able to answer it for you. People can reply to your tweets by using the @ symbol before your account name. For example: @smashandpeas
5. Instant Feedback
Rather than asking for advice, you could ask for feedback. You’ve published a tweet about your latest photo but you know it isn’t perfect. You could ask what others would have done differently, then as above, they can reply and tell you straight away what they would have done to improve the shot.
Final Word (Almost)
I’ve promoted our own Twitter account several times in this article but the best way to use Twitter is to build your own community and build relationships with your followers, rather than just using it to promote yourself (something we’ve been a bit guilty of…)
I’d like to change that right now, so if you’re using Twitter, use the comment form below to post your Twitter address and a short message telling us what you normally tweet about. It would also be good if you read through the comments and follow anyone you think you might be of interest.
Follow LightStalking
To get you started, anyone interested in photography should follow LightStalking. Not only do they have an awesome blog, they also have the most interesting Twitter account I’ve seen, by publishing pretty much everything that’s of interest to photographers.
They’ve also just published a post telling you how you can get mentioned in their tweets and with almost 30,000 followers at the time of writing, it’s definitely worth doing.
Here are the links:
Also Worth Reading
Comments
@jdenham
I love Twitter for sharing how I see the world and learning how others see it. Connecting with folks I otherwise would have never known. I am a novice, but passionate photographer (I’m learning) and love the fact that I can share photos with people and get feedback. Very cool, and great tips!
@mzikra
Hey, Great post. Twitter really has helped me grow as a photographer in HUGE amounts. Not only by providing tips and followers, but inspiration to keep moving forward and improving my skills. I post a lot of Live Music and architectural style photography as well as tips for shooting.
@bridgetsharp
Very nice article and so true!
@alxtorres
Great advice. I’ve had an account with Twitter for months but found no use for it. I’m also a photographer trying to make connections and get my work out there. When a couple of weeks ago I realized that Twitter can help me build that photography community I’d been looking for. I started my own project 365 and seen my Twitter connections with other photographers grow every time I post. Thanks for the help.
@drecart
I found you guys via Twitter and a lot of other good Photographer’s Resources from Blogs, Photographers, Tutorials and more. Using the lists make it easier to find all #Photography related posts in the Twitter feed.
@photosil
I’m an Italian amateur photographer and discovered Twitter last year. I use it mainly to tweet about photography related articles or my own works. Really like to read and know about other twittographers :)
@sjoerdbooij
I’m a dutch amateur photographer with a lot of ambitions. My tweets are about photography and nothing else. Sharing interesting articles that I find in my well filled Google Reader ;-)
Also, just put up a blog where I post about my photography and the things I learn. My flickr account for people that might find it interesting.
Great article btw, I really think it’s true. Photographers can benefit a lot from twitter :)
@spufool
I’m am an American amateur photographer and a recent graduate of Computer Science. My Tweets are about whatever: metal, new posts on my WordPress blog, cool photographs that I found through LazyFeed, and life. My blog is also quite random with book reviews, application trials, and photography.
This is an excellent article. Self promotion isn’t bad… to a certain extent.
@arekphotography
I joined twitter few months ago and instantly appreciated it as a perfect tool to communicate with other photographers (and hopefully someday clients).
Yesterday I got my biggest traffic spike yet with most visits form twitter- one of my tweets was retweeted to a wider audience.
@gregnbaker
A keen amateur photographer based in London but spending a lot of time in Switzerland and soon to be in Abu Dhabi.
Tweets are fairly random, but my photoblog is http://www.gregnbaker.com and my Flickr page is http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregnbaker/
@An1ken
Awesome write up on tips. I am a Digital Artist and have only recently started with my Photography studies and loving every minute of it.
Photography opens a new world to me and will definitely help me with my blog http://www.creativeoverflow.net and with all my work.
@matiassingers
I publish a lot of my pictures on Twitter and promote my blog posts – besides that I write about some general technology and photography news and events. Go follow me :)
@1001_words
I’m a young German photographer and I’m tweeting bilingual, mostly about reportage-photography and social/ecological issues.
@jonahhphoto
Just ‘landed’ on Twitter recently, and it’s turned out to be a great resource for valuable information; a lot of amazing people and good stuff and in a short time (e.g. smash&peas!).
A photographer & poet myself, ultimately I’m looking to find collaborators for poetry and photography projects, like-minded people and chats and lots of fun obviously!
@nicspicandmix
As a newbie photographer I love twitter it has helped me a lot, with inspiration, tips and a sense of togetherness. “I’m not the only one out there” sort of thing!
@alexbuiter
Dutch photographer/surfer using twitter to:
@damienlovegrove
Twitter can swallow your time and deliver no rewards or when used well it can help you connect with your customers and brighten up your life.
@Ricky_Williams1
I tweet about anything in general in my daily life. I usually tweet about electronics, mostly iPhone & Apple gadgets. I have a NIKON D40 and tweet about photography sometimes.
@Psi50
Twitter has helped increase traffic to my flickr feed and generated lots of useful feedback. Great source of information and creativity. I’m David S Wilson on flickr.
@Mandy73
Visiting via Twitter! I am a very keen amateur photographer from the UK and I tweet about my journey as a photographer and share whatever great stuff I’ve found on photography.
It’s also great meeting all you fellow photographers and getting to know you a bit more.
@Badasian
My tweets are completely random. I’m not going to lie – I don’t just tweet about photography, even though I am so passionate about it. I’m sassy and sarcastic, and that shows in my tweets. But I do follow a lot of people/sites that are photo-related.
I do tweet my daily photo journal updates, and often other photos as well.
@ericreichbaum
I tweet about photography here in New York City.
@photosbylesley
I try to tweet about things that I enjoy about photography, looking at others’ work too and general things about my day! I am looking forward to hearing about others that enjoy photography and sharing ideas.
Thanks for the opportunity to have a say!
@tobbeliljedahl
Swedish fashion photographer.
New to Twitter this week and loving it! Have followed some great tweets and already learned loads. Can well imagine this being very useful in my new life as a professional photographer.
Hi
Firstlt I would like to say what fantastic pictures you have on the webiste. I have only just started using twitter but had already added Lightstalking before I came across you, and yes your are right it is a great twitter account to follow. I will now have to work on making relationships with other twitters, hopefully to help me in my photography career – there is so much good stuff around!!
Cheers
@pawlysanchez
I use twitter to circulate my music & my website most of the time. Then there’s times were I’m just joking laughing wit relatives and friends about the trending topics
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