Digital Photos Continue to Define the Social Web
August 23rd, 2007 by Anderson SchoenrockI have been thinking a lot lately about the impact of digital photography on the development of the social web. Sites such as Facebook and MySpace for better and for worse allow people not only to create online profiles, but what have become full online personalities. These personalities are defined, in part, by what people are writing about themselves, but more often defined by the photos and images individuals are posting of themselves, friends, family and activities. While there is some negative impact that comes from this (college seniors being cut from job applicant pools based on inappropriate photos) for the most part I view the impact of digital photography’s involvement in the social web as a very positive one.
Groups of individuals can link and bond in ways that were never possible before. A couple of weeks ago I finally read Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail, to me the social web really is creating the long tail of socialization. Allowing groups of individuals with very distinct tastes or interests to find each other and share their common bond. Digital photos only help to accelerate the speed at which these groups can develop, both by making it easier to identify new members with a common interest and also by facilitating better information sharing capabilities. This ability to share and community build allows these groups to truly capitalize on the long tail effect.
In thinking about the topic I came across a posting by Dennis Dunleavy on his blog “The Big Picture”, he offers interesting insights to this topic as well. For those that are interested the article can be found here: http://ddunleavy.typepad.com/the_big_picture/2007/08/the-role-of-the.html
As the social web matures, it will be exciting and interesting to see the impact of these new social communities. Let me know your thoughts on the topic!