Goodbye to 2018 and welcome to 2019. And welcome to my new blog. My online life started on August 10, 2007 when I uploaded my first post to The Altered Page. Back in the day, long-form blogs were the way to go. People had the patience to read, many supportive comments were left and responded to, and a community was born. Some of my strongest artist friendships began in those early years and continue to thrive today.
But, as we all know, social media continued to develop and micro-blogging sites began to become popular. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram - to name a few - started to change the face of the online community and make social exchanges more user-friendly and speedier. Why read 5 paragraphs and click through to leave a comment when now you could simply see a picture and click thumbs-up?
I have come to embrace the quick forms of social media in my life as an artist as they allow me to connect with my community while not taking all my time away from actually creating. Seems like many other people agree as more and more long form blogs have been neglected and closed. But at the same time, I continue to love the depth and breadth that my blog was designed to encouarge. And truthfully, I have always found that I came to truly know people via blogs in a way that has never been equaled by FB or IG.
So what's a guy to do? Why not keep both?
The decision to move my ongoing posts to my website rather than continue on my original Blogger platform hasn't been easy to make but comes down to one simple concept: control. With so many constant changes to the algorithms of many social media platforms, it seems like years of work in developing a community can come crashing down in an instant. For example, it took me many years and much effort to create a Facebook Business Page with 14,000+ followers. But it seems like it only took Facebook one minute to change the algorithm so that only a fraction of a fraction of my followers now see any of my posts. Not going to chance that on my blog. Combining it on my website gives me and only me the choices.
If you would like to folow my blog and receive posts in your inbox, click here. While I may lose a good number of followers in the transition, you know what? I am ready to be Seth Apter online rather than The Altered Page. Truthfully, cannot even remember how I came up with that name except for remembering that all my first choices were already taken!
I begin this new year and this new blog on the same path as back in August 2007. Taken word-for-word from my very first post is the following --just as true now as it was then:
Right now, I have 3 goals in mind for this blog. First, to share my art and receive feedback in return. Second, to share artists, websites, stores, books, ideas, and creations that I have found. And third, to share great art finds from the museums, galleries, and steets of New York. Thanks for coming along for the ride.