Why I went Creative Commons

You post your work online so you can be found, right?

Blogs, Sites, Search Engines, & Social Media = Sources of Traffic

Like most other people for a long time I was afraid of having my images stolen, I disabled the ability for people to download my photos and included a copyright notice with all of my images. I've seen people use massive watermarks and demand that no one can even mention their work on a blog without permission. I've been posting images on Flickr since November 2008, that's over 4 years and in that time I've been known for my extremely high levels of activity in the community. You'd imagine that through my interaction in the Flickr community it would lead to Flickr itself being my highest source of traffic on Flickr, but it isn't. Flickr itself only constitutes 30%-45% of my daily traffic while search engines, blogs, forums, and other websites like Reddit and StumbleUpon contribute the majority of my traffic. Social media has also proven to have an immense effect on the number of views I get. Sharing a link to one of my photos on Google+ or Twitter creates a massive spike in traffic. Also from passively allowing my content to sit on Flickr and absorb views over years has brought me offers for licencing my work. This has lead me to realize the importance of making my material appealing for people to share online.

After Sharing on Google+

The other day I posted about one of my most viral Flickr postings ever; my Canon lens collage. I included a link back to Flickr telling people how to view the image bigger and so far it's given me a spike of traffic with a tail end going over a couple of days.

After Sharing on Twitter

I haven't traditionally been keen on Twitter, but over the past several days I've been sharing my photos through the Twitter share button on Flickr. Every time I Tweet any of my photos it causes a massive spike in views as shown above.

What I've Chosen to do

I've chosen to make my work more appealing for people to share, use, and pass around online. I've chosen to license my work as "Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons". Under this licence people may share or remix and adapt my work under the conditions that they attribute it to me and that it isn't used commercially. Doing this helps make my work more appealing to those who'd want to share it knowing that I won't come after them and extract my vicious revenge on their family. This isn't the only thing I've done, over the years I've made it so my work is more and more available to people. Right now on Flickr I have it set so anyone can download the full resolution original files of all of my work, that's right all of it, 100%, and without any watermarks at that! (my name is in the metadata though) Before you call me insane, two of the largest photographers on social media +Trey Ratcliff & +Thomas Hawk both offer all of their images under Creative Commons and can be downloaded at full resolution without watermarks. Doing all of this will help my content go more viral since the basis of going viral is through the sharing of content that people will talk about and recommend to others. All while making sure that I'm attributed to help ensure everything is traced back to me.

Trey Ratcliff's Work

All of Trey's work can be downloaded at full resolution without watermarks. In this screenshot is a photo he posted on Google+.

Thomas Hawk's Work

All of Thomas' work can be downloaded at full resolution without watermarks as well. In this screenshot is a photo he posted to Google+.

Billy, Are You Insane?

Maybe a little, but for the longest time my fears of switching to Creative Commons have prevented me from doing so. I've known Thomas Hawk for years and for all that time I've known him he's been a proponent of Creative Commons. It's only through my own experiences online that I've come to the conclusion that it's the better licence to deal with when it comes to this online sharing environment if you want to get your stuff out there. There's of course the fear of having your work stolen, which is everyone's fear when they first post something online. We've all heard of crazy horror stories but in the years that I've been putting my work up online have I ever seen it used commercially without me being compensated? No, but under this Creative Commons licence that would be a violation since I don't give permission for people to use my material commercially. What I have seen though are people who'll use something I made as a profile pic or post it to their friends or sharing it on their Tumblr. Do you know what this has done for me? It has gotten me thousands of views! I want to encourage people to do this since it brings in more people who will actually buy a print, watch my show, ask for a Tibby T-shirt, and become friends. Sure you might have something stolen along the way but opening yourself up will help you make a greater return in the long run.

In closing, I'd like to share a quote from +Thomas Hawk about his views on the copyright of his images that's been in my head since I first read it. 

"I look at my photography like this. When I make an image it belongs to me. It belongs to me while I take the photo. It belongs to me while it sits in my camera. It belongs to me while I process it on my Mac. It belongs to me while I let it sit in an archive folder waiting to be uploaded to the internet.

Then I upload it to the internet and it’s like I’m taking a bird and opening my window and letting it go. Off she goes. Her song to be enjoyed by the entire world — certainly no longer mine.

There’s a wild band of parrots that flies around San Francisco. They squawk and make beautiful noise in the trees above the city. I think someone made a movie about them once. They are far more beautiful and interesting than the parrots who live in the cages at the pet store."   -Thomas Hawk

Billy
about Billy

Personal Reflections on 2012

Now that the year is coming to a close I've been reflecting upon the past year and what to focus on in the following year. This year has had a lot happen, I've made connections with people from all over the world thanks to Google+, gained a larger audience than ever, started a weekly variety show, created a blog, and developed myself quite a bit.

My Work and its Audience

This year my audience has exploded (Around 1.3M) and that has made me consider what my audience wants even more. I want to know that I'm giving great content to the people who follow me. I know that you shouldn't feel pressured to change who you are and not worry about what other people think, but one of the great things that I've found online is that I feel like I'm part of something since I've had a number of problems socializing in real life. I want to listen to those following me and be part of a dynamic with them.

Fine, Be That Way

The photo above I did for Halloween 2012, it's a stand alone image part of a concept surrounding not fitting 

in and being left out. (It also creeps the hell out of some people :) ) 

Wanting to be part of this dynamic means that I want to connect with people in a personal way. I'm sometimes insecure about how much I'm able to relate on an emotional level. My outwards appearance by some I've heard described as cold, but the truth is I'm a bit shy. I also come from a science background that has kind of effected my personality in that I try to take a more rational approach. I do come out more in some of my work as shown below by the craziness. I feel that I'm able to rationally deliver information to people but I've been thinking lately about how to affect them more emotionally. So one of the things I aim to do in the new year is learn how to better express myself emotionally. 

It's Party Time!

This is a photo from my "Scientist Series" that depicted stereotypes of the science world. This one points fun at the thought that people in this area can't have any fun. 

All in all I want to maintain originality and character in my work that stays true to what I want to do. This is a hard thing to balance when you are trying to listen to an audience and work off of inspirations at the same time. I also find it difficult to stick to one conventional thing, but I feel that my work has developed a particular character. I still love landscapes, architecture, and dramatic self portraiture and putting them all together and creating a conceptual series. I feel that instead of being able to conform to a trend I've kind of made up an entirely new thing. I'm kind of proud in one way, but I feel  it's harder to build an audience off of than something that people are familiar with. 

Run Like Hell

Part of the "Run! Series" that depicted the journey through life and how people need to pause for reflection before they've run through their entire life without even stopping to think.

During this year +Ron Clifford bestowed upon me a credit for a train ride for 2 people from my city of Sault Ste. Marie 114 miles north into the Algoma wilderness all the way up to the Agawa Canyon. It was the first time I had ever experienced such an adventure and I brought my mother along with me. It was a lot of fun and I ended up taking many pictures. If it hadn't been for Google+ this would never have happened. 

Morning

Above is a photo taken during the beginning of the train tour crossing the Bellevue Trestle in the morning. There were pretty clouds floating around the hills.

One of the new things I took up this year was drawing of architecture. I drew my own building designs from scratch using a pen, ruler, calculator, compass, protractor, paper, whiteout, and a lot of time. I've also been working on ideas for a book surrounding my observations and findings surrounding art, architecture, design, and trends in society. 

Empire Cottage

A design by me inspired by Victorian Second Empire worker's cottages in Toronto and some architectural elements found in Colmar, France. The house is designed to have a working class charm with a bit of ambition wrapped in a small package. New Drawing Print Gallery

That Show with Billy Wilson (TSBW)

I'm absolutely amazed that I've started a show. I'm used to shying away from people, interaction, and public speaking, but somehow I decided to start a show and I will have done 39 episodes before this year is over! It all started with regular hangouts and finally getting enough courage to hop into one. Eventually Google got the idea to make it so we could be broadcast hangouts and record them to Youtube afterwards. I believe I was the first person in Canada to officially be given the ability while it was still only available to a small group of beta testers. Since then I've had 200 different people who have been on the show. I've had all kinds of people from the Youtube a cappella sensation +Peter Hollens to astronomer and publisher of Universe Today +Fraser Cain! The show occurs weekly on Fridays at 10:00pm ET (NYC) on my personal profile and is an hour in duration featuring a live musical performance!

TSBW Banner 

The banner used to promote my show featuring screenshots of guests taken during the show.

It has been amazing to watch myself and my show grow over time and I can't wait to see where it will take me in the new year. I'm looking towards getting more and more fun and interesting creative people in art, film, and music in the new year.

The People

During this year I've been able to meet so many new people and strengthen connections with them. I organized my first ever photowalk, HIRLed (Hangout In Real Life) with someone that I had met on G+, and stayed up until the sun came up talking to people from around the world.

Jordan Oram & I 

A photo snapped of myself and +Jordan Oram meeting in person in a HIRL for the first time. He happened to have a brief bus layover while passing through.

 Meet Doug

Here's a photo from the photowalk I organized in my city for the Worldwide G+ 1 Year Anniversary Photowalk. 

Connections in Hangouts

+Amanda Blain and everyone else during the after show for the fourth episode of TSBW.

Other people have also started shows on G+. +John Voshell recently did a Music Festival where he stayed up for 32 hours doing a series of broadcast hangouts on air featuring 64 musicians from all around the world! It was even featured in the Google+ Weekly Newsletter along with +Tyra Banks' latest hangout. It was one of the most awesome experiences I've had yet with hangouts! 

Music Festival 

+Julia Price playing with +Danni Rosner in the background during the +Artists In The Plus (AITP) Music Festival. 

Flo from Progressive Insurance

Larger entities have been making a splash onto G+. In the image above I was lucky enough to be in +Progressive Insurance's first ever hangout on air!

Tibby!

+Tibby got his very own page this year as well and starred in 2 episodes of "That Show with Tibby (TST)" so far! There are other plans for more Tibby shows!

I'm really excited for what the new year has in store for me. I hope to develop myself further and to make a deeper emotional connection with my audience and friends, "Billy Wilson" is becoming clearer. I'm also excited to see what kinds of amazing guests I'll be getting on the show. I have a number of fun episodes already planned out for 2013! I want to thank everyone who's reading this for being part of this journey with me and for your support, I wish you all a happy 2013!

Billy
about Billy