Social Media Sites need NON ARTISTS
Graphic designers cant just be followed by other designers
Hey friends
Another day, another app trying to compete with Instagram. I hope we see some actual competition one day…
Cara this, Cara that
I see all these designers and artists talking about moving to this artist's first platform called “Cara”.
Whenever I see this stuff, I think the same thing.
The idea of it is exciting and it feels great to imagine a place where art is prioritized and algorithms are subdued. A place where you actually see the people you follow.
I hate how a lot of these social media apps have become. They are all trying to replicate the success of TikTok by prioritizing a FYP, discovery, and overall reach instead of providing the creator with consistent ways to reach an audience.
The ability to reach millions of people is easier than ever, but the downside to that is the ability to deepen that connection has become even more difficult.
Don’t even get me started with the A.I bullshit either. No social media app should be scraping your design/artwork to inform a generative model.
I will and have always consented out of those things whenever possible.
Cara sounds cool in theory, a creative person’s utopia to share and consume art.
An app where we can build communities around art/design and give eachother feedback, motivation, etc.
That’s all it is though, there does not seem to be a meaningful space on the app for non-artists to enjoy and engage.
The problem I always get back to with these “artist social media apps” is that we need non-artist followers.
The great artists of the past would not be known today without the patrons who supported their endeavors.
While likes and engagement are nothing compared to the gold coins Michaelengo was getting, I still think our genuine followers are so important.
I don’t think an app can succeed by being only for artists.
Who will be there to consume the art if it’s all only people creating it?
Some of the most engaged viewers of art and design come from worlds outside of it.
At the end of the day, the best app to be on is the app that has the user base, and Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, etc will continue to be that (for at least a while it seems).
Cara seems like a cool place to almost host a social media-like portfolio, but I think that’s all it can be for now.
It will not solve the frustration artists have with getting more eyeballs on their work.
If we only exist within an app of our “coworkers” essentially it can just become very self-aggrandizing and not make any real change in the trajectory of your career.
Do what you want, these are just my thoughts on the whole situation.
I have seen so many of these apps come and go and never have any real genuine adoption after the first few months.
I hope I’m wrong… but we’ll see.
What do y’all think about these apps like Cara?
Much love and talk soon!
Glue
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More options are always better.
We don't need Cara to solve all of our problems. As long as more options keep coming from creative, honest intensions, the issues we face will naturally subside as a byproduct.
I don't care where Cara goes in a year from now. I am enjoying where it is at today, which to me, is an exciting place to hang out and see cool shit from cool humans.
I'm feeling the same way about all these apps popping up. I think what makes Cara a bit different from the rest is that it's created by a well-known artist and backed by other well-known artists. The optimistic side of me sees that as a plus, but the cynical side of me says "how will this help us smaller artists? You have your audience, we don't". I started an account yesterday and the vibe is pretty cool, but like you said, most artists won't find their actual audience there. Right now, I think it's working mainly as an artist hangout spot, which I guess works since the downfall of sites like Artstation and DeviantArt. Supposedly, Cara has partnered with Glaze to prevent AI mimicry so that's a plus. I saw a video from artist Bobby Chiu that offered an interesting way to go about it: post your work on Cara so that your images are glazed, then take the images from your post and post it on instagram. Could be worth looking into.