Platforms for Artists: some thoughts and advice about where to go online
The steady decline of twitter and the general toxicity and user-unfriendliness of large social media platforms has a lot of artists and other creators scrambling to find different websites. Adult artists are in an even stickier situation, since twitter, unlike instagram, tumblr, and facebook, is a place where erotic content is still allowed. There are of course, niche websites and fandom spaces, but a lot of modern artists still rely on social media to bridge the gap and direct paying customers to their work.
There's of course a lot of debate about where to go, what platforms to chose, and where to invest one's energy. The thing that I feel a lot of people fail to understand is that establishing your presence and your body of work on multiple websites is a lot of god damn effort. It's something of a job in and of itself- not just reposting your work, it's also a matter of getting acclimated and learning about a new website and its functions, finding your mutuals and friends and clients again, and having to navigate the social etiquette of a new space. Often, websites and audiences aren't built without effort put into interacting either. Unless you have some critical mass of followers who will find you wherever, it's going to be a lot of work to start from scratch. I frankly think the people who expect the most ease in just starting over fresh are children or young adults who still live at home, not concerning themselves with full time jobs or the daily chores involved with running a household. Be kind to yourself and allow yourself time to acclimate at your own pace, and ignore anyone who is trying to browbeat you about how on board you need to be with any given site.
Where to go and how to make crossposting less daunting
First and foremost, save yourself time and effort by looking into services that crosspost your work for you. There's of course some paid services, but for furry artists especially, I can't recommend Postybirb enough. It's a free to use app that allows you to post to multiple sites all at once. It presents you with one form where you can apply general tags, title, and description for your artwork, then you can also specify more individual features for specific websites- such as hashtags that help your work become more easy to find, or adding alt text for websites that support that feature. Postybirb also has a discord community where you can report bugs, get updates, and request features. Postybirb also allows you to make text posts, which is a great way to also share commission announcements, general updates, or direct attention to sales or special promotions.
Postybirb is an app with a furry focus and therefore does allow you to post on a variety of furry websites, but it is not just for furries. You can use the app to crosspost to mastodon, tumblr, patreon, deviantart, ko-fi, subscribestar, twitter*, discord, telegram and some other sites as well. With a bit of know-how, you can also set up some custom sites to be included in the roster, though I haven't tried that yet myself.
IFTTT might also be a service looking into, but that does involve paid features.
*twitter integration breaks a lot because Elon Musk is fucking the website up every day
Armed with a crossposting app, my general advice on where to go is: cast a wide net. People aren't sure which platform will take off and be sustainable, or which existing platforms are worth trying out, but there will also be little core communities that grow on any given platform regardless of whether it becomes huge or not. A small but active community can actually be a lot more positive for artists than a large community where your posts get lost in a sea of stuff. In small communities I've noticed I'm actually making more sales of merch from my webstore
I can only speak to platforms I've been on and my experiences of them, but here's what I've tried. I'll give some pros and cons for each. I'll be discussing the general platforms moreso than the furry art specific ones.
Mastodon
The idea of decentralized social media is a noble one and while it can be a little confusing to get started, it can be a very fruitful endeavor. Mastodon consists of different instances (basically think of them as individual servers or websites) that can link together with other instances. You get a local timeline (people who are on the same instance as you) and a federated timeline (people on different instances that are partnered with yours), but of course you also have the timeline of people you choose to follow. Hashtags are very useful for getting your work out there and you can choose to follow hashtags as well. Ones I use are #mastoart and #artistsonmastodon, but you can use hashtags liberally for other things, not just your art.
I do take issue with those who say "it's so easy! choose the instance where your friends are" when that doesn't really simplify things or explain why you need to do that. A lot of people end up on mastodon.social because they do not know where to go and it's causing that space to get overwhelmed and poorly moderated. I know the last thing anyone wants to do with their new website onboarding is doing research but you might have to ask your friends "which instance are you choosing?"
Federation also means that different instances can choose who they link up with. Many instances will choose to block instances that contain hate speech, conspiracy theories, nazis, spam, and other unpleasant crap that makes sites like twitter such a nightmare.
I'm on mastodon.art, and I generally have been enjoying my experience. For artists, it's a solid choice- active, well moderated, and has a friendly userbase. Adult artwork is allowed there provided it has appropriate tags and content warnings applied. You may need an invite to join, as many mastodon moderators want their communities to grow at a rate that doesn't overwhelm their capacity to moderate.
Mastodon pros: Mastodon doesn't collect any of your data, there's no advertisements, no algorithm, and your timeline is always in chronological order. Content warnings and filtering tools help you avoid stuff you're not interested in- but you can also turn off content warnings if you don't need them. If you need to move to a different instance for any reason, you can easily migrate your account to a new one. Generally speaking, you can find a lot of good leftwing spaces and the well moderated ones will block other instances that contain rightwingers, fascists, spammers, and crypto shills. You can generally have a very positive experience with no trolls, harassment, or spam. So far I've only ever had to block one person. Private likes.
Mastodon cons: instances are run by individuals and sometimes that means they can pull the plug whenever. I've seen some instances go down over intercommunity drama, while others shut down because maintaining the space was simply too much work. Defederation is also up to the whims of the person running the instance, so while some choices may be sensible, others might relate to personal bias or things that you might not agree with. For example, some instances take a hard stance against untagged adult content, or maybe choose to block instances that have certain kinds of fetish art (which gets into a whole sticky situation for adult content creators of all stripes, including sex workers). The culture around content warnings can also be extremely aggressive and annoying, as can requests for alt text, which can be really off-putting when you're still getting your bearings.
Personal verdict: worth it, but has a learning curve. Works well as a twitter replacement.
Cohost
Cohost is a plucky little indie website run by folks who want to do away with the toxic aspects of social media. It's a little like tumblr but it has a tech, hobby and art bent and is generally a very queer and leftist space. It also allows you to do some goofy CSS things inside your posts if you're at all tech and coding inclined (I am not but it is a lot of fun to see people make different types of interactive posts). Cohost is small but has a very active community and I've noticed an uptick in merch sales from my webstore just by sharing my stuff there. There's no algorithm, your timeline is just people you follow (and the posts they share from others) and it's in chronological order. Hashtags are very important and you can also bookmark and follow hashtags for topics you enjoy. There's also a robust tagging system, alt text support, and you can share adult content. If you miss tumblr's asks, they've also just implemented an ask feature. Supports text and image uploads.
Cohost Pros: a very active and friendly leftwing community, sex worker and adult artist friendly, with the ability to filter 18+ content. You can also turn off content warnings on your timeline if you don't need to be warned about anything. No advertisements, algorithms, or spam. The SEO on the website is crazy good for some reason, so it's easy to get your tagged art onto google images and higher up in google results. Staff are responsive and can be reached with concerns, requests, and suggestions. Does not collect or sell your data. More relaxed in its content warning culture than mastodon. Very easy to use. Your likes and follows are private by default! No publicly displayed fave or share counts.
Cohost Cons: Small, currently invite only, and may not be sustainable in the long run due to the financial strain it's putting on the people running it. It is also still under construction in terms of features and the site TOS and there's been some community discourse about what types of adult content are allowed- mainly a debate about whether or not fictional adult content featuring minors could be allowed, which was ultimately axed due to community backlash.
Personal verdict: worth getting into if you miss friendly little niche spaces and the vibe of classic era tumblr without the metric ton of discourse. Also worth supporting the owners financially if you can.
Tumblr
Yes, I'm back on this platform post adult content ban. Tumblr is a social blogging platform that allows you to make original posts and also lets you reblog posts by others. Some aspects have changed since the early days of the site, but functionally it is still recognizable. Allows you to share links, music, photos, videos, and text posts. Tumblr also relaxed its stance on adult content, allowing artistic nudity and using a "mature" community label for other adult content including text posts. Hashtags are an essential part of getting your work seen and are also a way to keep your blog organized. Consider using one tag for all your artwork so people can click and see it if you're also using your blog to post about other things. Another option is to have a blog that's just your own artwork.
Tumblr Pros: it's quieter than it used to be, as the porn ban did scatter a lot of the most annoying people to other platforms. The tumblr queue is very useful for uploading your backlog of work and automating your posts. Tumblr also finally has the ability to filter based on hashtags as well as the community labels (warnings for adult content, drugs, etc), so you no longer need a third party app or plug-in. Fairly user friendly. You can make your likes private.
Tumblr Cons: Advertisements, something called tumblr live which is a weird video feed at the top of your dashboard that you can "snooze" but never fully dismiss. Sometimes buggy when it comes to uploading multiple images. Postybirb integration doesn't seem to understand sideblogs. Forced whimsy, discourse, spambots, rightwingers and terfs.
Personal verdict: if you're not strictly an adult artist, it's worth it, especially if you're just using the website to share and promote your work.
Instagram used to just be a photo/picture sharing app, but now it prioritizes video as it is in competition with tiktok. It is owned by Meta (Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg) and it definitely is not a platform I like that much anymore. However, you will find that it still has a pretty active community of artists there, including a lot of zine and comics people, painters, and sculptors. Adult content is not allowed there and there is an algorithm that prioritizes video. Hashtag use is one of the ways to get your art seen.
Instagram Pros: this app is meant for visual media and it does present a nice gallery with an ability to pin posts. If you enjoy using mobile apps I do find it easy to use. Favorable if you are a video artist or enjoy making process videos of your work.
Instagram Cons: Algorithm, prioritizes videos, timeline is not chronological. I feel like I see more reposted tiktoks and "suggested" reels than I see people I actually follow. Harvests your data and serves up a ton of advertisements. Hashtags are tracked by spammers that will ask you to send your art to repost accounts. Your private messages will also fill up with requests from spammers asking you to promote scams with drop-shipped products. Hostile to adult artists and full of right wing crap. No postybirb integration, primarily functional only on mobile.
Personal verdict: Not a good platform but I'm using it anyway as a force of habit. Use it if you keep up with the comics/zine crowd.
Bluesky
Bluesky is kind of like mastodon but it is backed by Jack Dorsey, the weirdo who previously was twitter's CEO. It's the same concept of decentralized media, but seems to utilize lists as a means of finding people and curating different feeds. I'll be honest, I'm very new to it and I do not quite understand how it's all supposed to work. Like mastodon, you can also add alt text to images. At the moment, the vibe seems to be that leftwingers are flocking there en masse to make the space inhospitable to the rightwingers, douchey techbros, and outright fash. Adult content is allowed (both irl and drawn) though there is an AI filter that determines if something is adult content or not. I don't super trust that.
I will probably report back once I have a better understanding of the ins and outs.
Pros: It's been easy to find other artists and to get included on the lists people are making to curate feeds of artists. Blocking and muting is also very easy and you can also automute lists of conservatives to make the site tolerable. Decentralized social media does seem like a more friendly option to FB, Insta or twitter. If you're an adult artist or a sex worker you can post The Goods.
Cons: Invite only, still under construction, and I'm still getting my bearings. No postybirb integration as of right now. Run by tech bros. Blocks are public for some reason and so are likes.
Personal verdict: check it out if you're curious, but mastodon is a known quantity and might be a better choice. Time will tell!
Websites I would not recommend for artists and which I will not be using for art.
Facebook: functionally worse than instagram, punishes users for automating posts as well as for not using the website frequently enough. Posts are not shown chronologically, algorithm also pushes and prefers certain types of content. Adult art is not allowed and many images are falsely flagged as having adult or other types of forbidden content. While some artists may get mileage out of participating in facebook groups or using marketplace to sell their work, there are better options that yield less annoying interactions with the general public.
Deviantart : you may feel differently, but as far as art communities go, I don't think deviantart is a healthy one anymore. The site is flooded with AI generated art and actively allows user uploads to be used for machine learning unless you opt out. Obviously any public data can be scraped, but the active encouragement of it on-site feels inherently anti-artist.
Tiktok: algorithm hell, full of children, also not much for non-video artists to do besides process videos which just seems to create a demand for "satisfying" content over the actual art. Do it if you dare but expect diminishing returns.
Threads: Owned by Meta (Facebook, Instagram) and basically just another way for them to sell and harvest data. Nothing I have heard about the platform sounds good. You will be dealing with algorithms, no chronological timelines, advertising, and I have read some concerns about data safety. If you think it's bad that there's only three websites we go on, imagine three websites all owned by the same company.
tfw you are posting on threads.
Non-Social Media Options and Essentials for Artists
Make a personal website: it might sound very basic and obvious, but many artists don't have a personal or portfolio website, instead relying on a scattered web presence or social media in place of a gallery. Not only is having a personal website a great way to show off the best of your art, it's also a consistent place your customers and clients can locate you. Your portfolio should be either in the bio or in a pinned post on whatever site you have an account on.
Making a personal website doesn't have to involve tech know-how either. There's plenty of websites with templates, both free and those with paid features, that you can use to host your portfolio. I also have a custom domain for my website, but that isn't always necessary.
Wix allows you to make a free website but also has pricing plans for more features. You can also integrate e-commerce with their paid plans.
Squarespace (imagine I am saying this in the voice of your favorite or least favorite podcaster) lets you make websites on a paid plan. They also have webstore integration if you want to sell prints or other merch. I use squarespace for my own portfolio with a custom domain.
Neocities is a popular free option and highly customizable.
Make a directory: gather all your links and put them all in one spot. Let people have options for where to find and follow your work. Your portfolio can be one place with a directory of links, but I would also recommend having a directory you can link in your bio or in a pinned post.
Linktree is a great professional option where you can list all your social media profiles, projects, web stores, etc.
There's also Carrd, which is very customizable, but does have a bit of a "kid" vibe to it. Only put your relevant links, a small bio, and a brief commission TOS if necessary. Putting a DNI list or a huge list of of things that might be considered oversharing is not a good idea. I think internet youth culture tricked a lot of people into disclosing your mental illnesses, triggers, traumas, etc. You very much do not have to share info with people that could use that info to hurt you. That's a tangent but it's worth saying.
Make a professional email: avoid the woes of losing contact with a client because they deleted their social media, or the website is down. An email is a must. It should be on your website and on your linktree or carrd. Don't conduct all your business in direct messages of a website if you can help it, instead direct clients to your email. It helps you keep track of these conversations and stay organized.
Optional, but may be worth exploring: in addition to social media, many artists also like the idea of discord servers or making telegram broadcast channels. Both telegram and discord are messaging apps that allow you to make group chats. Discord allows you to make servers, basically like a huge group chat with different text or voice channels where people can interact and talk about different topics. Highly customizable, and fun. Though keep in mind that it's added work to maintain and moderate.
Mind you, a discord server is NOT a replacement for a website or an alternative to social media. However, it can be a nice way to stay in touch with friends and clients alike. If you use Patreon to make money, discord also integrates with it and you can use a discord server as a means of earning money or delivering special rewards to supporters. Adult content is allowed on discord.
Telegram broadcast channels are a great way for fans and clients to follow your work and receive updates. You can customize your channel somewhat and allow your followers to leave emoji reactions or even comments. Followers can also forward images from your channel to others, which can bring new people to the channel.
Tools to make your web experience suck less: while I don't have great recommendations for mobile users, those browsing the web on desktop should absolutely look into browser extensions to make social media less shitty.
uBlock Origin is a plugin that stops ads and popups, and you can also use it for cosmetic filtering.
I also use no-script which stops a lot of awful advertisements, sign up prompts, or other crap like autoplaying videos.
Some browser extensions can also work to filter posts based on keywords, and can force web feeds to display in chronological order. Your mileage my vary, but have a look to see what's out there. You can also use privacy plugins to block trackers and advertisers. If you have to use corporate social media for your work, you don't have to endure all the worst parts of it.
Other general advice
Block and mute often. There is no need or reason to engage with anyone who is acting in bad faith. Right wingers especially want to be argued with and they purposefully game interactions on websites that give them an algorithm boost. Arguing with people just broadcasts their bad opinions or outright hatespeech where others can see it. I know it is, of course, tempting to tear into a guy that sucks, but removing their ability to goad you hurts them infinitely more. You want people online to see your art, not your arguments.
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