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Decline of activity on MM?
Being an active member of MM since 2008, I have noticed significant decline in activity on this site during past couple of years. First, there is a significant decrease in number of open casting calls for models and especially for photographers in Long Island area (NY). Second, casting calls do not attract as many visitors as they did in the past (no matter whether the casting is “paid” or “TF”). Third, at least in my experience, the proportion of serious responders to all responders to a particular casting call went down dramatically – these days you can arrange a photo shoot with just one model out of ten that responded (only if you are lucky). This may be the result of growing popularity of digital photography – now everybody has a camera that can take high-quality photos. Or maybe the overall popularity of modeling has declined over the years. I think that there are now emerging alternatives to MM – other websites where photographers can find models and vice versa. In particular, I heard references to Facebook from other photographers. I do not have a Facebook account and I would like to get feedback from photographers and models who have accounts there. I would like to know what other people think - is this really a problem or it is just me or something wrong with our area? Thank you. Dimitri Oct 03 13 01:26 pm Link The site moderation has moved away from the wild west mentality, and people have moved on. Oct 03 13 01:36 pm Link In terms of available cash flow that floats all boats, it could also be partly due to the extended sickness of the economy. Could be a maturing product life cycle or waning interest in general. Trends come and go. It's hard for people to focus their enthusiasm on the same thing in perpetuity. There will always be a place for people who are serious about photography and modeling. I also do not use a FB account. It's too invasive. Oct 03 13 01:38 pm Link I think facebook may have something to do with it. Sometimes I check the events section with the intention of possibly attending if the location sounds cool. I checked one event close to me, and out of the 50 models that were listed to be attending only 5 of them had a MM account. The rest were all facebook. Soon, I will either have to give in and get facebook or go back to wildlife if MM bites the dust. I want no part of facebook, either. Oct 03 13 01:42 pm Link D Artistic Photography wrote: You are not alone. Oct 03 13 01:42 pm Link Jay Edwards wrote: I am here with you........ heehee Oct 03 13 01:47 pm Link I think digital cameras started to get good and affordable right around the time MM was formed and there was a surge of interest, but after a while people start to wonder if all the effort is worth it. I try to make sure more than ever now that if I spend time and energy on something it's something I really want to do. I also find what threads are allowed nowadays tend to suck. If I post something I think is interesting it often gets no interest, so I'm feeling kind of bored and out of step. Oct 03 13 01:58 pm Link it's life. Myspace used to be hot. before that, friendster. soon no one except your old ass mom will use facebook. Oct 03 13 01:58 pm Link Also I'm sick of the same threads over and over on certain photography topics. And since there are always going to be newbies, those topics are not discouraged by the mods. Oct 03 13 01:59 pm Link The fun has been squeezed out of MM. Oct 03 13 02:16 pm Link I dunno, I think it is sad. Forum participation and casting calls have definitely declined. It isn't the end of the world, but it is not what it was even a year ago. Oct 03 13 02:17 pm Link NothingIsRealButTheGirl wrote: Do good digital cameras also take care of the art, creativity, composition and imagination for the person pushing the button? Oct 03 13 02:24 pm Link Modeling has changed in the past 10-20 years. Magazines who used to pay a good stipend to photographers for a model have waned to the point it isn't economically feasible to include them in some travel magazines and even brochures where they may only pay $200 for an article now vs. $700 a decade ago plus a $150 model stipend with an agency/model release. So many magazines have gone by the wayside recently too, so no models needed for those. Some now just use illustrations and graphic artist caricatures now instead of live models that cost them. I expect a few more will fade soon too. Internet has made it cheap to display too, since many expect it for free on the Internet so why pay a high-priced ad model who many won't recognize anyway. Even spokes-models have given way at some car, truck, motorcycle shows where they now use the local sales staffs from some local vehicle dealerships to staff and run them. Too much negative press of beauty pageants, anorexic models and their eating disorders, etc. doesn't help either to keep it viable. I see more clothing lines now using artist renditions too rather than a live model wearing whatever. More mannequins in ads with the "real stuff" too (e.g. Wigs. Jewelry. Purses.). Cut & Pasting artwork via Illustrator saves them money and time getting it to press over calling in an agency model and photographer. Cut costs to get it on the internet - and fast! Something somewhere has to give when everyone is cutting costs to survive. Even our local modeling agencies have closed shop and we have one left here - barely. Some models at LA agencies rarely get a call in a year and many have sought going independent for work after a year with some. More annoying is all the crap I have to go through now to even do a shoot outdoors verses 20 years ago. Can't shoot photos here or there due to restrictions. Public city parks may need a permit filed days in advance and checked out, "You need to speak to so-and-so over that. Might be free, or might not. He'll know." State Parks may need a $100/hr. "monitor" (ranger) present. Federal Forest Supt. might want you to bring in your own Porta-Potties as they may lock theirs from you using them (Not kidding! Plus you have to have them pumped out to move out of there too!) in the area. Interference from the law over permits, insurance bonds, releases, etc. The new cell phone cops calling in over "Possible illicit behavior by guy with camera at park or train station." To do a shoot outdoors now can rack up $1,000 easy now with all the sundry stuff to do it even legally, plus all the "You need to fill this in." "See so-and-so." "Fax your one-million dollar bond to us." etc. More outfits see this as a way to make money and seems to have escalated in CA in the past decade with more doing it. Do it illegally and pay the consequences. Pay a model and MUAH and it really gets expensive in some areas. Some just give up and I can't say I blame them at times. Oct 03 13 02:45 pm Link Click Hamilton wrote: Click, Oct 03 13 02:58 pm Link D Artistic Photography wrote: active? Oct 03 13 03:03 pm Link I still book models from other sources and others contact me through MM. Oct 03 13 03:05 pm Link Not much change here, if anything the quality and quantity of work has increased! Oct 03 13 03:07 pm Link there is another thread about paying a fee for MM. I like the set up as it is. it's certainly not perfect, but suits the purpose. many have moved on to Facebook, but I much prefer this. Oct 03 13 03:12 pm Link Here is more info. I found this interesting that MM had a huge spike in hits at a point. Also that 2 models who drive traffic here are Pet Sasso and Jessi June. The first of which is not that familiar. https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/modelmayhem.com Oct 03 13 03:31 pm Link Click Hamilton wrote: They brought a lot of new people to photography and that influx has tapered off. Oct 03 13 03:37 pm Link London Fog wrote: About the same if not a tad more here as well. Oct 03 13 03:50 pm Link NothingIsRealButTheGirl wrote: Where's the upvote button? Oh yeah wrong site. Oct 03 13 04:05 pm Link Schlake wrote: +1 Oct 03 13 04:20 pm Link In a way, Model Mayhem invented "internet modeling." It became a place where models, photographers, MUAs, etc., could meet one another and work together. I think when things are new and exciting, they tend to experience high levels of interest and hence, activity. As the "novelty of it" wears off, less activity is to be expected. You will also find members who have a very unrealistic set of expectations and because of that, don't generate interest within the group of people they want to work with. This can go either way - models who think they are at supermodel status and can demand whatever they want, or photographers who think "they are all that" and have unrealistic requirements to shoot. In either case, they don't work much and that breeds disinterest. Really, its just sort of a natural evolution. The decision really is whether or not it gives you what you want and need. If it does, great. If not you have to decide whether or not you can change the situation (which you probably can't) and go from there. Oct 03 13 04:30 pm Link The first serious model/photo site I belonged to was OMP. It became bloated and difficult, at least for me, and I've found this space to be friendlier to work, and it hasn't succumbed to the OMP model, ha ha, of getting too full of itself for the average joe or jane. Free sites will always attract drive-bys, lurkers, looky-loos, and attention-deficit types. There will always be those who sign up and instantly fade. After a while, oOnce the site's optimum exposure has been reached, there will be a sine-ish wave of growing and decreasing interest. The trick is to keep the site, any site, productive and friendly on an ongoing basis. You can't maintain being the latest greatest thing forever. Stability and consistency have to be in play sooner or later. Oct 03 13 04:38 pm Link Interesting to see our British and Canadian responders seeing the opposite effect. I've noticed a considerable increase in membership and responses from those locales myself. Maybe we just need to talk-it-up more in the States. Oct 03 13 04:41 pm Link D Artistic Photography wrote: Honestly? I think that it is a combination of things and situations actually. Oct 03 13 04:51 pm Link Facebook isn't the problem. It's the solution, albeit not a very good one imho. Facebook has replaced what MM used to be because they are more modern and tech efficient. They offer a user friendly format that allows anyone to connect with whoever they wish for any reason. They also have the money and resources to stave off things like a TOS and privacy policies that are 100% screwed up. IB has not invested the resources and dollars into MM to make it more attractive to anyone. Now we begin to see things like the new casting call format and rules, the new my stuff layout and converting to a wider format. Too little too late for MM? That depends on IB's business objectives I suppose. Oct 03 13 05:11 pm Link MerrillMedia wrote: its acually in a way a case of Darwinism in a way....I joined right when this site was exploding in Sept of 2006...I like many others picked up a cheap DSLR and was wanting to explore some visions and ideas I had always wanted to see but never seen shot before,or in a way I would have envisioned it....except I was very inexperience and kinda needed to lear how to shoot...at this time Myspace was at its peak and about to decline and Facebook was taking over..This was befrore you had Iphones,droids,ect,that pretty club girls could use to take gtood enough pics to hook up with boys on said sites....my first ever shoot on here was with 2 such girls I met at a Dragonforce show that saw me with my rebel and aked me if I wanted to shoot wih them..for this reason... Oct 03 13 05:19 pm Link MerrillMedia wrote: Buahahaaaaa Oct 03 13 05:25 pm Link MerrillMedia wrote: Sites like OMP and Garage Glamour and others were first. I know some of the photographers here from Netmodels. MM was a success partly because of its then take no prisoners forums. So in no way did MM invent or redefine Internet modeling. Sites come and go. MM is older and has become less popular. Oct 03 13 05:33 pm Link MerrillMedia wrote: In a small way, perhaps, though it's probably done a lot to popularize the idea. Oct 03 13 05:46 pm Link As far web design and social networks are concerned, Modelmayhem is very antiquated. Nowadays social networks offer so much more: direct video uploads, im, a like button, not to mention metric data. Modelmayhem needs to bring this site up to current standards. Oct 03 13 06:15 pm Link With SB gone we lost a lot of active members, add in an economy that is only improving in the news reports and some decline was bound to happen. Oct 03 13 06:27 pm Link October 3rd, 1:26 pm 35 posts later in less than 5 hours...hmm. seems active enough Maybe all the other people are too busy working  ....Oct 03 13 06:37 pm Link All of this thinly veiled soapboxing is hilarious...  Oct 03 13 06:39 pm Link It's Facebook. I spend more time on there than I do here. M.M. is dated. Being serious means keeping up with the latest technology. A video option profile etc. Facebook is a primes example. As much as people hate it, they have the largest base of people that are on there. Many of the M.M. members that I talk to on there, rarely or ever come here. Oct 03 13 06:45 pm Link Justin wrote: Stability and Consistency...where have I seen that before? Oct 03 13 06:55 pm Link Legacys 7 wrote: Facebook blows MM out of the water - even instagram is a better platform. I can see everyday pics of the model, video of the model, have multiple ways to communicate with the model. I don't need to be at a laptop or a desktop to use all of the features either. Oct 03 13 07:03 pm Link Art of CIP wrote: Without a question. the fact that I have better networking with others in the industry. puts me in a better position. I still have that here, but it's not on the same level. Oct 03 13 07:06 pm Link |
