Glossom – Social Media for Creative People

Glossom is a network for creative people to share all types of visual media, including art, fashion, photography, design, video, and illustration. Think of it as Pinterest for artists.

 

It is not only a great site to network with other creatives, but is a good source of inspiration as well. Artworks added to the free portfolio may be organized in visual collections and shared with other Glossom users. This art compilation can be easily propagated elsewhere by email, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and more. 

As a side note, Glossom does not claim ownership of any artists artwork, as Pinterest recent terms seems to do (Good News! - The Pinterest TOS will be updated soon (April 6, 2012) to something much more favourable for artists). At Glossom, artists may even set the copyright protection to sole ownership, or a creative commons license.

The Visual Curator® allows the creation of a set of similarly themed images (visual montage) for a Glossom portfolio, which will give viewers a good impression of the entire content.

 

How to Setup a Glossom Profile and use the Visual Curator® to Create a Collection

 

1. Go to Glossom.com
   
   
2. Click the Join Now link in the top-right corner, then fill in your name, profession, email, country, and password. Create a name for your Glossom portfolio, agree to the terms, and click the Join button.
   
   
   
   
   
3. On the next page, first fill in extra required information, including gender and birth date. Upload a profile picture, in gif, png, or jpg format. Include other social networking profiles, such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Flickr, Tumblr, Picasa, Blogger, Wordpress, and more. Write a short bio in the About You section, and a link to your artist website or portfolio, then click the Save Changes button.
   
   
4. Now that your profile is setup, it is time to create your first Glossom collection.
   
   
5. Click the Create Collection link at the top, and choose to upload artworks from your computer, or from photo and video sharing services, either Flickr, Youtube, Vimeo, or Picasa.
   
   
   
6. In the Visual Curator®, drag artworks to the lower grid, and resize to design a canvas of images. Click anywhere outside the grid when finished editing a particular photo. Also drag one artwork to the cover box on the left.
   
   
7. When completed filling in the grids with images, hover your cursor over a single artwork, and click the (i) symbol that appears in the bottom-left corner.
   
   Fill in title, description, tags, and copyright information, and select a privacy setting or keep it at everybody. When completed this task for every single artwork, select a title, description, and tags for your collection, then click the Save button.
   
   
8. After the collection is complete (see mine below), you will be given the opportunity to share with social networking communities. Choose to email, convert to PDF form, or embed in your art website. Other options include Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon, Tumblr, Linkedin, Blogger, and Delicious.
   
   
   

Glossom Tips

At Glossom, collections are regularly featured. To increase the chance of selection, fill in your profile fully, and add titles and descriptions to each artwork.

Show a close-up image, or just a little snippet of your artwork for the collection view. This will visually invite others to click for a larger image.

 

Obtaining Glossom Followers

Your Glossom network can either be built by following others (people often follow in return), or emailing contacts (go to Network-Invite People). When following another Glossom member, or favoriting an artwork or collection, that person is instantly notified by email.

So, to build your contacts at Glossom, spend some time browsing, commenting, and favoriting.

 

Are you a Glossom member? What are your opinions of this social media website for artists and creative people?