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# Thoughts and observations from my experience with Glass
- URL: https://numericcitizen.me/thoughts-and-observations-from-my-experience-with-glass/
- Published: 2021-08-18T11:40:08.000Z
- Updated: 2023-03-23T16:48:04.000Z
- Description: If you are tired of Instagram’s bloated features or are looking for a photography-focused service for sharing your photos, with no ads, you might want to consider Glass. Here are a few thoughts and observations on the recently launched service.
- Author: JF Martin
- Tags: photography, Flickr, Glass, Instagram, observations, review, Social Networks, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2023-03-23 12:41, #numericcitizen

![Glass community view](https://storage.ghost.io/c/db/90/db90e17a-b0ed-4eb3-8db1-a5b434dbead1/content/images/numericcitizen.me/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/iphone-community.png)

Glass community view

There is a newcomer in the space of photo-sharing services, and it is called Glass ([I’m still waiting for Bokeh, though](https://numericcitizen.me/2020/06/13/bokeh-to-challenge-instagram/)). I’ve been waiting for the service launch since September of last year. Following its debut, Glass gathered a lot of comments and quick reviews, mostly positive. Here are a few thoughts and observations about Glass after a few days of use.

- From the first few minutes of interaction with the application, what I’m seeing is a simple and clean user interface enabling simple micro-interactions. It is refreshing when compared to Instagram which feels to sit on the opposite side.
- Glass is a simple photo sharing application, so basic that it may feel simplistic because we have Instagram or Flickr as our reference frame. Don’t be fooled. Simplicity will be rewarded.
- Glass is not promoting photographers stardom. Profile pages are simple and lack the usual followers count. How can this be possible in 2021? I think this is a brave decision from Glass founders, which makes me feel that all photographers start on the same starting line. That being said, there are a few notable users of Glass: Phil Schiller, Om Malik just to name a few.
- By skipping the like feature, at least for the time being, engagement happens only by writing a comment on a photo post. It’s a great way to slow things down in a world of digital fast foods where we hit the like button too easily for too many reasons. It reminds me of the [slow food movement](https://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/low-impact-living/what-is-slow-food-movement?ref=numericcitizen.me).
- Thanks to users who engage with comments, there is a sense of community even without group discussions, something that is still a thing on Flickr.
- Discovering new photographers is easy with the community tab. How is these suggestions list built? I couldn’t find a word about it. Is there some sort of algorithm at play here, or is it curated by humans?
- From what I am seeing, many photographers are publishing photos taken with their iPhone. Just like at the beginning of Instagram.
- By being a paid service, only willing users will come to the platform. I like this. You can call me an elitist.
- Micro.blog supports sharing photos from Glass in a recent update (version 2.2 and up). Glass doesn’t have APIs, but sharing a photo on Glass creates a web page that Micro.blog can ingest and copy the photo to its servers for sharing purposes.
- Pictures quality is high as I don’t feel any visual compression. One thing that I don’t like is when tapping on a picture, the zoomed view requires scrolling to see the whole picture. There has to be a better experience.
- Somehow, Glass reminds me of Micro.blog. They both share attributes like being paid services, without ads, no timeline manipulation, no followers counts or likes.

> We want you to adore Glass, not become addicted to it. We’ve created a distraction-free app focused on one thing — your photos.Glass founders

## What’s not there, yet

![Glass Photo Details view](https://storage.ghost.io/c/db/90/db90e17a-b0ed-4eb3-8db1-a5b434dbead1/content/images/numericcitizen.me/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/photo-detail-you.png)

Glass Photo Details view

There is room for improvement with Glass, but many missing things aren’t signs of weakness. Here is a list of missing things or things that could be improved or added.

- No ads. Thanks.
- No algorithms to trick the timeline. Thanks again.
- No likes, nor followers or following counts. We’ll see if these things will ever be added.
- No iPad app or web app yet. We’re still waiting for Instagram to build one, maybe Glass will beat them on this. I certainly hope so.
- No APIs. That’s probably the last thing that will happen with Glass.
- While browsing a photographer’s profile, there are no thumbnails to view yet, except when in the discovery (community?) tab where up to three pictures can be glanced at. Consider this added to my wish list.
- No filters yet. I’m not convinced if this will ever come to Glass.
- Editing photo description after posting is not yet possible. A must.
- Can’t share a photographer’s profile URL. A must. Eventually.
- No long-press support on photos to bring a pop-over with actions. A must.

> It’s like a Glass of cold water in hell

## Looking ahead

There is room for a service like Glass. It has to be that way. Yet, there is a limit to how I spend time in photo-sharing activities.

- I decided to go all in with Smugmug a few months ago. I have to decide how Glass will fit the picture (pun intended).
- It will be interesting to see Glass evolve while staying true to its core values.
- I want to give Glass a chance. For one year. I subscribed. It’s another experiment of mine. This should be enough to see where the service will be going in the future and for me to find a niche in my digital landscape. Maybe.

> *From what I am seeing, many photographers are publishing photos taken with their iPhone.*

## A few burning questions

Glass is certainly a welcomed addition to the landscape of photo-sharing services, but Glass triggers many important questions for me.

- Why use Glass if I’m already using Smugmug?
- Can Glass be considered a social network? Does it even matter?
- Why do we share photos online? Why should we?
- How much time am I willing to divert to Glass instead of writing or even taking photos?
- Is there time left in my numeric life to spend on another photo-sharing service?
- For those on Flickr or Smugmug, what is the role of Glass? Should they switch to Glass? Does Glass have to compete against these services?
- Is it possible for a small newcomer like Glass to break the big player’s apparent monopoly of the social networking or photo sharing services space? It’s far too early to tell, but I dearly hope so.
- Does Glass have to become addictive to create a dent in the universe of photo-sharing platforms?

I don’t know.

I’m enjoying Glass and looking for a place in my digital life for it to stay. So I’m giving myself one year for this while looking at Glass’s evolution. It will be an interesting journey.