This presentation looks at the growth in smartphone adoption, the different categories of visual social networks and then has some recommended next steps for anyone working in brand marketing @dirktherabbit originally gave this talk at the Social Media 2013 conference in Athens (http://socialmediaconference.boussiasconferences.gr/).

1. Dirk Singer
http://about.me/dirktherabbit
Twitter - @dirktherabbit
social photography and video
The rise of visual social media and what it means for you, 9 April 2013
@dirktherabbit #SMCgr

2. I like stats I’m a Rabbit I take pictures with my phone
(liesdamnedliesstatistics.com) (London ambassador EyeEm)
three things you should know
about me
more about visual social media - 8mpx.co.uk. On social media - @dirktherabbit

3. 2005 2013
spot the difference

4. “The mobile is the most
important technology in
your life....except
possibly the respirator”
Doug Grinspan (Say
Media) SXSW 2013
let's take a step back

5. Changing human Our gateway to the The way we express
development outside world ourselves
smartphones are...

6. the rise of the smartphone
Most EU5 mobile phones are now
smartphones
Making a phone call is only the 5th most
popular activity on a phone

7. five consequences of phones being our new 'canvass'

8. "The top end camera -
we think this will survive
- but the point and
shoot lower end model
will not survive in the
future"
Keitaro So, Fujifilm
1 - the point and shoot camera: going the way of
the (print) newspaper, VHS, LP.....

9. According to ICS Research, last
Digital camera shipments out of year camera phones outsold
Japan dropped 42% last year, standalone digital cameras 6:1.
with entry level cameras By 2016 the smartphone camera
particularly hard hit market will pass the digital
camera market in value as well as
volume
most entry level cameras - smartphones

10. 10% of all of humanity’s
Every 2 minutes we take
3.8 trillion images was
more photos than in the
taken in the past twelve
whole of the 1800s
months
2 - this has led to a photo explosion

11. • 20% of the photos taken
every day end up on
Facebook http://is.gd/
H9kkan
• 300 million photos are
uploaded every day on
Facebook http://is.gd/
1vJ1il
• In November 2011, 20%
of (Facebook) news feed
stories were photos, now
its 50% - http://is.gd/
YjlyUN
3 - that now means online, we communicate through
pictures

12. Posts on Facebook that include an The most common factor when
album, picture or video increase buying online? The photo (67%)
engagement by 180%, 120% and ahead of the product info (63%)
100% and ratings (53%) - http://is.gd/p0qMkl
4 - people respond to images over words

13. 5 - photo sharing is now photo broadcasting,
with its own social media
Photo-sharing Short form video / gifs
Story-telling and curation Longer form video

14. a look at the different categories

15. story-telling and
curation platforms
• Everything from blogging
platforms, to notice boards, to
ways to tell stories via pictures
• Tumblr - the world’s largest
blogging platform. Highly visual.
Better favourability ratings among
the under 25s than Facebook
• Jux - a new entrant, a more visual
Tumblr
• Snapguide - create how to guides
with a series of photos
• Pinterest - the online equivalent of
putting magazine photos on a
board or the fridge

16. "A do it yourself dream.
A tool that makes
producing how to guides
insanely easy"
Salon.com
one to keep in your sights - snapguide

17. long form
video
• Use the video camera on your
smartphone to capture and share
• YouTube - not a mobile social
network as such, but has a new
app allowing you to capture and
upload
• Socialcam, once touted as the
Instagram of mobile video. Put
your video through filters
• Frameblast, splice together
videos to create video stories

18. short videos and
animated gifs
• Create gifs or very short videos.
Put through filters. Share.
Mobile friendly (creation and
data)
• Vine - six second videos on a
loop. Owned by Twitter, arguably
already the most popular mobile
video networks
• Cinemagram - animated gifs, you
create from mobile video
• Viddy - 30 second (up from 15)
video with filters

19. the rise of the gif
• An art form with its own
influencers (for example ‘Mr Gif’)
• Driven by Tumblr, which now owns
the SEO around it
• Has moved into the political
mainstream, from specialist
tumblrs, to Buzzfeed, to the
Guardian
• Gifs are....”the political cartoons of
our generation....in the past
people were making cartoons for
the New Yorker. Now maybe
they’re making gifs on
tumblr” (Jessica Bennett, Tumblr)

20. the rise of vine
So far, Twitter’s attempt to have its own ‘Instagram’ is paying off

21. Music brands from Rolling travel - the six second
'vining and dining'
Stone to Enrique Iglesias postcard
sub-culture and community - the vine way
of doing things is quickly evolving

22. Doritos Bacardi ASOS
vine - who is doing it right?

23. watch out! the copyright police has this in their
sights

24. photo sharing
• Take a photo with your phone, filter it
with the in-app filters, or any 3rd
party app, tag it, upload and share
• There is now consolidation in this
space: Facebook owned Instagram
with 100+ million active users
• Other major players - Berlin based
EyeEm, a distant second but focuses
more on content and community.
The relaunched Flickr. And Hamburg
based Tadaa
• There is now an eco-system and sub-
culture of meet-ups, exhibitions,
prizes, promotions and courses

25. photo-sharing
networks now
have social
media
maturity.
They have:
so many social networks - how do I know they
will be around in a year?

26. Instagram has 100+
million active users.
BUT - critical mass
isn't the same as the
big number
a critical mass of users

27. #greece - 1.03 million
images tagged
#athens - 245k images
#igersgreece - 74k images
#smcgr - 26 images! (As of
2pm)
@steliob
in Greece?

28. #findingbeautyoutofshit #powerlineporn #sneakycommutershot
@brandonturner80 @chrysti @linalemontree
a distinct sub-culture and 'language'

29. @brandonturner80
its own influencers

30. the Instagramers and EyeEm ambassadors

31. "It used to be that you needed darkroom
Twitter - the "pulse of the planet"
skills to make your photos look great.
(Evan Williams 2009)
Then when things switched to digital, you
at least needed to be able to make your Instagram - will usher in a "bold
way around Photoshop. new era of citizen journalism" and
will "tell the world's stories in a
Now, Instagram handles it all. And it rich, visual way" (Kevin Systrom
looks great for editorial purposes" 2012)
(Business Insider)
as an aside - consider how it changes
the news

32. @cloclath
what should you do now

33. 1 - adopt a picture
first strategy
• People communicate and share via
photos. They respond to images.
So why use heavy text based posts
to make a brand point?
• Text still has a role, but use
engaging photos to draw people in
• Consider blogging platforms such
as Tumblr (or even Jux), which are
highly visual
• Encourage people to share - they
will do so anyway

34. 2 - use hash-tags to
provide prompts
• People are going to post anyway,
the first step to make sense of
what they are saying and to
channel the activity is the hash-tag
• Twitter (+ Vine) and Instagram
already use them, Flickr and
Facebook are introducing them
• Publish on your marketing material
and on pre event social media
• Use it with physical prompts
• Make it easy to remember and
short
• Use an album name for EyeEm

35. #finalshowdown
choose your hash-tags carefully

36. 3 - find out who the
influencers are
• Social photography, social video
now have their own influencers.
They are often not one and the
same as your A-list of bloggers
• Find out who they are, start
inviting them to events to take
photos
• Court them early - find out who is
active on Vine. Right now,
working with them will be low cost.
That will change

37. 4 - build it into
customer services
• We all work with people - people
do stupid things sometimes. If
someone in a customer facing role
acts in a strange or erratic way,
chances are it will be captured on
photo / video
• The flip-side of that, have a
sensible mobile photo policy when
it comes to members of the public.
A flat 'no' to taking and sharing
photos is unrealistic and counter-
productive

38. 5 - experiment!
• The cost to entry is still low, now is
a good time to try something new
and to experiment
• You still get PR value out of it, the
cost of a six second Vine is far
below that of a decent YouTube
video, let alone an ad. Mediums
such as Vine also lead on creativity

39. finally - the barrier to entry doesn't have to be high and
complicated

40. My visual social media
blog - http://www.
8mpx.co.uk
thank you for listening!