Here are some interesting statistics. This survey checks for the reach of photographers on the web. It does so, by looking at each photographer’s Web Popularity Index (WPI). This index mixes the three key factors of the social web: reach, interaction with users, and external references. To do so WPI analyzes “fans, followers and subscribers on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Flickr, Tumblr, 500px and other social networks, ratios for interaction with subscribers, fans and followers, as well as references for the photographers’ publications”. The site does not share how much each of those components contribute to WPI or even how some of the indexes were concluded. Yet, being who we are, there are now metrics on the table and we can not ignore them.

Is this a good way to see who is a good photographer? I think not. In fact I am not even sure that this is a good way to check who is the most influential photographer, as influence works not just by reach by also by who you are reaching. But, this does measure who has the most presence online and this by itself is an interesting index. (on a side note, 20 years ago, everybody on that index would rate 0).

[Read More…]