For photographers and bloggers like me, the dream has always been the same simple thing: capture a moment, share it with the world, and connect with those who appreciate the journey. This was always my goal online, but recently something changed, and mainstream platforms like Instagram decided to make this simple goal feel like an uphill battle. Between the never-ending push for short-form videos and an algorithm that values ads over the people you follow, photography has lost one of its corners of the internet. This is why I decided to reclaim my photography with Pixelfed.
If you are feeling frustrated with how Instagram works nowadays, you are not alone. Many of us are tired of Meta’s data-harvesting practices and the relentless push of algorithm content. Besides those, there are always the ads. So many ads.
More recently, there was also Meta’s abrupt change in policy regarding fact-checking and community guidelines, allowing certain groups to be targeted. That was the final spark for me, and I decided to look elsewhere since I wanted to share my pictures in an environment focused on what actually matters.
This is why I have been publishing my pictures on Pixelfed for over a year now. And the experience has been incredibly refreshing.
Beyond the Algorithm: Using Pixelfed for Honest Photography
For those who are not familiar, Pixelfed is an open-source, federated photo-sharing platform. It is a privacy-focused response to commercial social media that rewards user control and eliminates algorithmic manipulation. If you’ve heard of Mastodon or the Fediverse, you’ll find that Pixelfed feels like a natural home. This might sound complicated, but it isn’t once you start using it.
Originally, I started posting digital photos there before transitioning my focus to the film photography that I have been posting online more often lately. I didn’t know who to follow at first, so I decided to explore hashtags like #BelieveInFilm and #AnalogPhotography, and there I discovered a thriving community of like-minded photographers.
This felt to me like how discovery used to work on Instagram before the entire experience was distorted by never-ending ads and the notoriously annoying suggested posts. On Pixelfed, these tags still make sense and function as intended, connecting people through shared interests.
I still maintain my Instagram account, primarily because it remains as one of the few ways that I can stay connected with some friends and family that I have in Brazil. While I strongly disagree with Meta’s corporate direction, I have to recognize the reality of those existing connections. However, posting my pictures on both platforms in parallel has revealed some unexpected truths for me.
Despite having over ten times more followers on Instagram, my posts on Pixelfed often receive double the engagement. It’s a strange sensation to have: I reach more people and receive genuine feedback on a platform where my “numbers” are technically smaller. The community on Pixelfed feels to me like they are more interested, friendly, and focused. And what else do I need?
Some might view the smaller user base on Pixelfed as a negative feature, but I find it nostalgic somehow. It feels a bit cozy, if that is the right way to describe a social network. It takes me back to the early days of social networks, before everything turned into a huge, impersonal machine that is used to show people advertisements.
I joined Instagram in 2010 on an iPod Touch, long before Meta decided to buy the platform. During these many years, I watched it evolve from a mobile photography experiment into something I no longer care for. Now it feels to me like a platform cluttered with short videos and AI-generated content. And many of my friends find the same issues there.
Pixelfed recently reached one million users without any traditional marketing. If this happened a few years ago, it would be on the news, but we live in a different world. All of these new users show that everyone wants a platform that respects photography.
After one year in Pixelfed, I plan to keep posting. It feels like a place for photographers, a place where I can share one of my hobbies and reach a group of people that are as interested as I am. In a world filled with AI slop and constant distractions, the focus I get on Pixelfed is precisely what I was looking for. You need to try it out.
