The rise of social photographyAlan Jones alan@thenewagency.com.au

Who the hell am I?Older than I look

What do I know?

• Tech journalist, media relations• Microsoft product guy• Yahoo! product guy• Bluepulse - Silicon Valley, 3M users, $10M VC• Pollenizer, Startmate, BlackbirdVC• Chromasun, TrainerPlatform, BugHerd, OtherLevels,

ScriptRock, Bugcrowd• The New Agency

Each age has a dominant medium

But there’s always been a lot of new images

“Photos make the world go round”- Marissa Mayer, Yahoo!

34 billion photos usedin Australian print media in 2012

Source: The Photo Diner 2012

Social media drives imaging

1993

2000

2013

And this is why

What did the smartphone achieve?

• ‘Good enough’ cameras you’re always carrying• Connected to free photo sharing• Filters and editing• Simple to share• Fun to find new friends

How popular is sharing?

• 56% of Internet users identify as eithera content creator or curator

• 32% identify as both creator and curator

Pew Internet Report 2012

Massive growth in online photos

Why is photo sharing so addictive?

• We’re a herd species• How we express belonging• How we express status• Experiencing self vs remembering self

Photo sharing helps us re-experience the every day

“The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”-Marcel Proust

As a result

• 47% of adult Americans share photos or videos they’ve found elsewhere online– (Up from 41% last year)

• 54% of adult Americans have posted original photos or videos – (up from 46% last year).

Source: “Photo and Video Sharing Grow Online,” Pew Internet (Oct. 28, 2013)

On Facebook, images rule engagement

Snapchat puts Instagram and Facebook to shame

• Founded 2011• Immediate, temporary images to/from smartphones• On 9% of US phones (Pew Internet Sep 13)

1/10/121/12/12 1/2/13 1/4/13 1/6/13 1/8/13 -

50,000,000

100,000,000

150,000,000

200,000,000

250,000,000

300,000,000

350,000,000

400,000,000 Snapchat images

Snapchat images

HOW SHOULD MARKETERS RESPOND?

Appeal to the curators

• Curators are more likely to be female, and young adult

Do you take or share images or videos?

Men 9.66%

Women 11.08%

18-29 45.00%

30-49 18.75%

50-64 13.53%

Source: Pew Internet Report 2012

How do we appeal to young female curators?

Frequency is more important than quality

• Streams will always bias towards recent content

Celebrate the everyday

Encourage synaptic play

http://omgcatsinspace.tumblr.com

Rediscover the familiar

Create happiness that can be shared

Use narratives

• Have a beginning and an end• Engage our emotions and senses• Teach us lessons about the world• Connect the teller and the audience• Engage memory and create retention

Always post with an image

• On Facebook and Twitter– Posts with a picture get more than TWICE the engagement

of a text post

• On Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest– The image is the post

Stop thinking in campaigns

Evian live young

Startbucks on Instagram

Conclusions

• Social media and smartphones change audiences into creators/curators

• Driven by:– Zero cost of image production and sharing for consumers– Brand advertisers subsidising image hosting and sharing– The ‘best camera’ is in the pockets of millions– If you can’t create, you can always share

• Always use images

Train creatives to use the new media

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremywilburn/

Resources

• Pew Internet “Photos and Videos as Social Currency Online” Sept 2012– http://bit.ly/199OnYj

• Facebook engagement: text, links, photos or videos?– http://bit.ly/17Vy85r

• Creators, curators, Instagram and Snapchat – Pew Internet Report– http://bit.ly/HKacI7

• This is you on smiles – Medium– http://bit.ly/1hXDfWm

• Daniel Kahneman – TED Talks - The riddle of experience vs memory– http://bit.ly/17gphau

Alan Jones@bigyahuhttp://about.me/alanjones

Rediscover the familiar