Social Media

I am so terrible at social media.  I've avoided most of the social media avenues/apps/platforms in large part for the entirety of their existence.   I have accounts on all of them and if you were to send me a link that opened in one of those platforms, I could click on it and go see what you were sure would make me laugh uproariously.   Because who doesn't want to see a monkey getting whipped cream out of a refrigerator and asking for some in a cup as a treat?

With Filament Stories, there is a lot of social media I'm having to learn.   The different platforms have different ways of delivering content.   YouTube started out with videos, but now there are Shorts and Stories and they have different requirements on length, when and how they're presented, and in what orientation they must be uploaded. 

Over ninety-eight percent of viewing these days on some platforms is done on phones, so while we were building videos in horizontal format—which my husband and I both prefer—we had to refactor our plans and go vertical.   Which is an odd thing, because there is the same amount of space on your phone regardless of if you're looking in landscape or portrait, but it just feels smaller. 

The vertical extends to TikTok, which is sort of a throwaway, but it can get people in you as a brand and they'll want to find you on other platforms.   Currently, and surprisingly, just from throwing a few videos up, we have subscribers.   Instagram wants not vertical but a more squarish format.   

Instagram has posts, reels, and then your "Story" which is what's happening now.  If you like your own post and then add it to your story, you've doubled the exposure.   And if you have a video and post it as a reel, it gets shown in the reels area when people go there.   

Does that sound confusing?  It is.  It so is.   Just getting one post up where we get the proper tags in (because you have to hashtag so many things) and then adding links to the items shown and giving proper credit to the model creator, the music, and the filament, is an exercise in confusion. 

Fortunately, we have a friend who knows far more about this than we do and he's given us some good advice.   It's still strange to me to be posting on these platforms I wanted to actively avoid for so many years.  

Other than that, all the 3D printing is so much fun.  Busy, but fun.

The Big Boy Update:  My son requested, "a 3D printed cup I can really drink from."  He knows not all filament is food safe, which I was impressed he knew. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter now has a Dwarven Mug for when she drinks something in a can.  It can sit in this container (the lid screws off) and she can hold the handle and drink from the can directly.   She felt all over it to see what was on the sides and said she loved it.