500px is still very much alive and remains a valuable platform for photographers, although standing out there is far from easy. The community is largely dominated by well-established photographers with years of experience and strong portfolios, so new accounts usually need more time and consistency to gain visibility.
One of the platform’s biggest advantages is its Editor’s Choice feature. Photos selected by the editorial team are showcased in a dedicated gallery, giving them significantly greater exposure and often resulting in a substantial increase in views, likes, and overall engagement.
500px also organizes images into a wide range of photography categories. Within each category, photos can appear in three main sections: Fresh, Upcoming, and Popular. Every newly uploaded image starts in the Fresh section. If it attracts enough attention early on through views, likes, and positive ratings, it may be promoted to Upcoming. From there, the best-performing images have the opportunity to reach Popular, where they receive the highest level of exposure and can be seen by a much larger audience.
BTW, here is my Thread account https://www.threads.com/@photo.by.arsky?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==, but I think you've already found me ;)
I accidentally switched my hive account to @inmyframe.