National Geographic closes “Your Shot” website and switches focus to Instagram

According to a recent report, the latest Disney layoffs would impact National Geographic, considering that it was acquired by Disney earlier this year. And it seems to be true – NatGeo has issued the official announcement that it’s closing the Your Shot platform.

For those of you who may not know, Your Shot is a photo community which offered photographers assignments, advice from experts, and the opportunity to get their work featured on digital and print platforms. It also connected the photographers within the community.

I first noticed the news on Reddit, where one of the users shared that the platform seems to be closing. And indeed, when you visit the Your Shot page on National Geographic’s website, you’ll see the official notice. It reads that the Your Shot platform will be discontinued as of 31 October 2019. It won’t cease to exist overall, but it will be moved to Instagram:

Variety’s report claims that Disney’s layoffs will make National Geographic “more of a TV-centric operation, focused on its U.S. and overseas cable networks.” And with the Your Shot platform moved to Instagram, users wonder how it will work from now on. How are the submissions going to be curated? And how is the community engagement going to function from now on? Is it just going to turn into followers and likes? I guess we still have to wait and see, and judging from users’ comments, the opinions are divided. Some hate the idea, while the others don’t see anything bad.

View this post on Instagram

Balance of Elements | Photograph by Andro Loria (@andro_loria) . “An aerial shot from a small airplane offers a bird’s eye view of the multicolored rhyolite mountains of Landmannalaugar at Fjallabak Nature Reserve in Iceland,” writes #YourShotPhotographer Andro Loria. “The mountains are made of rhyolite while the other elements, such as sulfur, iron, and moss paint the slopes in various shades of brown, yellow, pink, red, and blue. The layers of color look even more impressive from above, forming an amazing natural abstract painting.” — “Wow! This is such an amazing landscape! Love the colors and the textures/patterns created by the rivers. I love this shot!!” — #YourShotPhotographer Vanessa Hirsch (@vhirsch1)

A post shared by National Geographic Your Shot (@natgeoyourshot) on Sep 6, 2019 at 7:44am PDT

I personally haven’t been a member of Your Shot, so I can’t speak as a user. But objectively speaking, on Instagram, there’s always a chance to turn everything into likes, without too much engagement, which certainly isn’t a positive thing.

Have you been a member of Your Shot? What do you think of NatGeo’s decision?

[via DPReview, Variety]