The History Of Photo Sharing

THE HISTORY OF Photo Sharing PHOTO SHARING HAS COME A LONG WAY. 20 years ago the process of taking, processing, and distributing a photo could take weeks or longer. Now, mobile apps such as Instagram allow us share photos in seconds. What follows is a brief history of photo sharing-where we've been and where we're going. THE STORAGE LAYER THE HOST LAYER THE "APP" LAYER The storage layer chronicles the The host layer chronicles the The app layer chronicles the mobile component physical (hardware) component of photo storage and sharing. online dimension of photo of photo storage and sharing-paying particular attention to mobile applications ("apps"). storage and sharing. 1980s COMPACT DISCS (CDs) EMAIL Widespread use of email began in 1980s-perfect for quickly exchanging digital images! CDs and CD players debut in the 1980s, become standard in PCs in the 1990s. 1990s DIGITAL VIDEO DISCS (DVDS) BLOGGER LAUNCHES CAMERA PHONES DVDS were developed in the Blogger launches in 1999. It The first cell phone picture was sent in 1997 by Phillipe Kahn using a jury-rigged cell phone. The first commercially available camera phone early 1990s and became widely available in 1998. was one of the earliest blogging tools and is credited for helping popularize the format. Blogger was acquired by Google in 2003. was the "J-SH04" and came on the market in late 2000. shutterflys MEMORY CARDS SHUTTERFLY LAUNCHES In the 1990s, a number of small Shutterfly, the web-based photo memory card formats arrived on the market including CompactFlash, sharing and printing platform launches in 1999. SmartMedia, and the "Miniature Card." By the 2000s, most digital cameras supported memory cards. 2000 2000-The first camera phone! snapfıshO USB FLASH DRIVES SNAPFISH LAUNCHES IBM began selling the first USB Snapfish, the web-based photo sharing and printing service, launches in 2000. Snapfish was acquired by HP in 2005. By 2011 Snapfish had flash drives commercially in 2000. 90 million users. 2001 IPOD DEBUTS WIKIPEDIA LAUNCHES WIKIPEDIA The Free Encyckpedia Apple's portable media player launches in 2001. By 2004, the Wikipedia, the free, web-based encyclopedia launches in 2001. By the end of 2001 Wikipedia was hosting SrouNFRM iPod supported picture viewing. 20,000 articles. Flying under the "Creative Commons" banner, Wikipedia (and sister projects) explicitly allows the reuse of its content-including its photos-to varying degrees. Cameras such as the Fuji Finepix 2600 contributed to a boom in digital camera sales. 2001-2002 2002 DIGITAL OVERTAKES ANALOG PICASA LAUNCHES In 2002, "Picasa" was launched by Idealab as an image organizer that was integrated with a photo-sharing website. Picasa was acquired by 2002 is marked as the first year in which worldwide digital storage capacity overtook it's analog counterpart. Google in 2004. 2003 PHOTOBUCKET LAUNCHES "ANDROID, INC." FOUNDED In 2011, Twitter announced a partnership with Photobucket, making Photobucket the default photo sharing platform for Twitter. Photobucket launches in 2003, helps Android, Inc. was founded in 2003 to pioneer social image sharing. In and began developing software for mobile phones. In 2005 Android was acquired by Google. 2007, just four years after its launch, Photobucket had 50 million users. 2004 FLICKR LAUNCHES In 2010, it was reported that Flickr was hosting more than 5 billion images. Flickr was launched in 2004 by Ludicorp. In 2005, Yahoo acquired Ludicorp and Flickr for a reported $35 million. Shutterfly and others make it easy to 2004 self-publish photos. FACEBOOK LAUNCHES In 2010, Facebook was seeing more than 100 million photo uploads every day. Facebook, originally dubbed "The Facebook" launches in 2004. 2005 3G PANORAMIO LAUNCHES 36 IN NORTH AMERICA By 2007, Panoramio had archived more than 5 million photos. Panoramio, a geolocation-oriented photo sharing site, launches in October. Panoramio was acquired Significantly improving the speed and reliability of wireless networks, 3G becomes commercially available in by Google in 2007. North America in 2005. By 2007, there was nearly 300 million worldwide subscribers on 3G networks. 2006 TWITTER LAUNCHES In 2011, Twitter saw 100 million active users each month, half of which logged in every day. O Twitter quietly launches in 2006. By the end of 2007, more 1.6 million tweets were generated by Twitter. 2007 t. TUMBLR LAUNCHES IPHONE DEBUTS By May 2011, over 5 billion blog posts had been made on the Tumblr platform. Tumblr, the microblogging platform, launches in 2007. Apple's smartphone launches in 2007. Within 4 years they will sell nearly 130 million units. ICANHAS CHEEZ BURGER ANDROID O.S. LAUNCHES DATA STORAGE GROWING ICHC LAUNCHES In 2007 a major distribution of In 2007 it was determined that global I Can Has Cheezburger? (ICHC) the open source mobile operating data storage (including PC hard drives, disc-based media, etc.) had launches in 2007, popularizes animal based image macros and "lolspeak." system "Android" is unveiled along with the founding of the Open reached nearly 300 exabytes (about 300 million terabytes). Handset Alliance. THE MOBILE SHARING BOOM BEGINS FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE BOOM: Major launches of smartphones and smartphone operating systems. Major improvements in the quality of smartphone hardware (camera, processor, etc.). Improvements in network/cellular speeds. Debut of cloud storage products for delivery/access of photos. 2008 bwitpic POSTEROUS LAUNCHES TWITPIC LAUNCHES Posterous, the super-simple blogging In 2008, TwitPic kicked off the Twitter platform, launches in 2008. photo sharing phenomenon. Dozens of copycats hurry to pile on. 2009 DAILYBOOTH LAUNCHES acelo By 2010, Dailybooth had seen a total of 3 million photo uploads. Dailybooth launches in 2009 as a photoblogging site for users to take a photo of themselves every Facebook reaches 300 million users in 2009, popularizes photo- sharing and tagging. 2009 day with a caption. Food FOURSQUARE LAUNCHES FOODSPOTTING LAUNCHES Foursquare grew 3400% in 2010, and by 1/2011 had 6 million users. In 2009 Foodspotting launches an online platform to share and recommend specific food dishes Foursquare, the location-based social networking site for mobile devices, launches in 2009, adds improved photo-sharing capabilities in 2011. via photos. They launch an iPhone app in 2010. 2010 INSTAGRAM LAUNCHES Instagram launches in 2010 for the iPhone which allows you to an app quickly take a picture, apply a number of different filters, and share it, INSTANT IMAGE EDITING The popularity of Instagram and Picplz (and others) could very well be because of their ability to easily manipulate, edit, and overlay cool filters on photos- all within the application. PICPLZ LAUNCHES "Picplz," the location-centric photo streaming service developed by Mixed Media Labs (founded in 2010), allows you to upload photos, apply a number of different effects and share them. PRIVACY OF SOCIAL SHARING "Path" and "Color" are two good examples of how the privacy of mobile sharing apps can be approached differently. Path, for example, is a relatively private platform-generally allowing only your closest 50 friends to eavesdrop on your sharing. Color, on the other hand, originally allowed anyone within a certain distance to see your photos. PATH LAUNCHES Path launches in 2010. Seeks to help "capture life's most personal moments with photos - add context of people, places, and things - and share them with your 50 closest friends and family." 2011 COLOR LAUNCHES With $41 million in the bank, Color Labs launches the much hyped, location-based, photo-sharing app for the iPhone in March. Pivot Photos taken from Facebook's most shared news stories of 2011 PHOTOVINE LAUNCHES FACEBOOK PHOTO APP? Google launches Photovine for the In July, rumors emerge of a iPhone in August, which centers around community storytelling. possible native Facebook photo- sharing app. 1iCIVERCA LT HAVE AS ADIS AY TMES RPIN HEL WALEK EyeEm Ted Williams and his Golden Voice" captivate the internet EYEEM LAUNCHES TWITTER PHOTO-SHARING JANUARY 2011 In August, EyeEM launches an app for Twitter partners with Photobucket, rolls out it's photo-sharing feature to iPhone and Android that allows you to take photos, apply filters, and tag not just your location, but also what you were doing in each photo. the masses in August. MARCH 201 Fukushima nuclear disaster COLOR LABS PIVOTS GLMPS LAUNCHES GUMPS Color Labs pivots in September, and GLMPS launches for the iPhone in debuts a new photo-sharing app that August, allows users to post "visual status updates" on social networks. Stave! is deeply integrated with Facebook. R.I.P Pse POSE LAUNCHES MOBLI GETS $4 MILLION OCTOBER 2011 Death of a Legend In October, Mobli (a real-time Launching for iPhone and sharing platform highlighting usage by celebrities), gets $4 million in Android in October, Pose offers a mobile platform for real-time discovery and sharing of fashion, shopping and style. funding from notable investors including Leonardo DiCaprio. WHAT'S NEXT? The photo-sharing market is ripe for innovation, and the future is looking bright. Postagram debuted in 2011, allowing you to print and ship photos you've taken with Instagram. Metalayer has an API that can be used for auto-tagging and indexing the objects within your photos, which is already helping to springboard new developments of apps and image search technology. AKISSmetrics SPECIAL THANKS TO @semil and @techcrunch Sources (abbreviated): Picture of J-SH04 courtesy of Morio/Wikipedia. http://www.macworld.com/article/156515/2011/01/the_history_of_digital_cameras.html http://crave.cnet.co.uk/digitalcameras/photos-the-history-of-the-digital-camera-49293172/ - Picture of Fuji FinePix 2600 courtesy of dcresource.com. - Picture of Photobook courtesy of aboyandhisbike/Flickr. http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/computer_data_storage_through_ages - Picture of Facebook signage courtesy of Paul Sakuma/AP. - Picture of Fukushima courtesy of Digital Globe/Wikipedia. - Picture of Ted Williams courtesy of AP. - Picture of Steve Jobs tribute courtesy of Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters. http://www.freshnetworks.com/blog/2011/08/25-photosharing-apps-a-list-in-development/ >)