social share – Thoughts by Gary

Not that very long ago, everyone was building Web sites that they bragged about how many eyes where visiting. It seemed great, everyone was going to a site so that site/company must be worth big dollars because they could do something with those visitors to make a business out of. Sadly, little was thought of what to do with those visitors outside of hammering them with ads so the big profits never happened, leaving companies unable to pay their bills once the investor millions ran out.

Jump to today, where the Web sites of interesting information/news have been replaced with social sharing services. Sites, but mostly mobile apps, are encouraging people to share their life experiences. This can be via images, short text notes, links, videos, and places being visited. Almost all of these services are free with almost non imbedding ads. Recently a couple companies have tried ‘for pay’ social services, a competitor to Twitter, a competitor for Instagram, most are tied to Web page based photo storage/sharing.

When a company doesn’t find a method to produce a profit and the VC money has run out, like yesteryear, they shut down. Different now though is that those earlier companies where providing information, the current offerings are services that require the public provide the content. This means, when a company collapses, gone is person on the street’s created content and relationships. One most notable, Kevin Rose with his Milk company and location experience sharing social service.

There is always the excitement around Facebook and it’s collecting of every bit of data about their users and their habits, as well the constant push of sponsored content and ads. The company is massing a lot of data on people using the service. Not only via what a person posts, but also how it relates to what other people they are connected to are posting. I have been noticing a lot more ads recently based on my activities when not on Facebook so their ability to relate info on their users no matter where they are is starting to show.

Continue reading Beware wonderful new free services going the way of the Dot Com Bust of yesteryear

Instagram has gotten a lot of press since it started it’s free social photo share service. When Instagram launched, folks jumped on, posting their iPhone photos. Trimmed to square and a variety of retro filters applied. After a while, images posted where taken with cameras, posted by professionals with Photoshop touchups. As the service got more popular, the numbers games started with people posting images that were not their own and others toying with liking and following to drive up their follower numbers.

All the while, people where posting images of places they have been and the people they are with. The filter options changed, the UI was updated, and people kept sharing their snapshots. The number of people kept growing and growing. Other copycat services started, and well known services updated their interfaces to make photo sharing easier. Most of the ‘big’ services missed what actually made Instagram popular resulting in slower photo sharing growth than they where hoping for. So, Facebook purchased Instagram. A faster way for Instagram having money in the bank than adding ‘for pay’ services.

A free social service with no exposed path for income sold to a free social service that has figured out how to make money… big money! Many people where concerned that their information and history on Instagram would be shared with the new owners, Facebook. So, the concerned users removed their Instagram account and moved to other free social photo sharing options. Services with no visible income path.

I wasn’t highly concerned since I have always stripped off the location information from my photos before posting. I don’t call out people by name and seldom make reference to a specific business. Letting the photos speak for themselves. If Google had purchased Instagram, I would have been more concerned as they would tag the photos with their own information based on scanning photos against their database. With Google, they would have programmatic read signs or recognized places based on their street view or other people’s tags.

Most recently, Instagram received a bunch of press when they updated their TOS to include the possibility that they may use photos posted on the service in ads or even sell the photos without giving credit to the photographer. Along with no credit, there would be no sharing of the money changing hands related to the sale or use of the photos. This really got people excited… imagining their snap shots being used in promotions and not getting compensated. Even though I spend time tuning my images prior to posting them to Instagram, I really doubt I post anything to Instagram worthy of being sold. My better quality photos go onto other sites that carry my copyright. Those sites have obvious income paths but could still be sold to another company that won’t respect the TOS our relationship is based on. Though, one of my photos being used in an ad would be something to show off to those that didn’t get their photos chosen.

Many of the blog posts that are yelling the loudest against Instagram spent time talking about their photos being used for things beyond their control. They spend a little time complaining about low quality photos on Instagram. And, finally asking why they should post to social sites when their time is better spent doing other things.

In reverse, all social sites are what you make of them. A few people have figured out ways of making money by posting to people’s interests. Usually, they are making more money telling people how they got so many followers. I use the technology to follow people that have interesting things to say, and share what my connections would find useful. Not expecting to ring a cash register, rather as another information source.

Second, those silly low quality photo filters. Instagram offered a quick solution to people’s desire to stand out or look more unique. Making editing of a quick snapshot simple. Viewing photos with the included filters has to do with who a person follows. Only follow those with the style you like.

Companies will forever change the rules. You control your destiny through what you post. Even sharing with just your friends can result in the data escaping or at the minimum being used with your name removed to build a system that can make money for the provider. Otherwise, they will not be able to pay their hosting bills, discontinuing their service… remember all the excitement when Oink pulled the plug after folks had added content to help build the service?