Photo Sharing Sites

What are Photo Sharing Sites?

Online photo sharing sites and applications allow you to upload, store, edit, organize, and share photos. With photo sharing sites, users can connect with each other by leaving comments, and tagging photos with keywords or descriptions. Many users on photos sharing sites offer their photos under a Creative Commons license so others may use them. Common photo sharing sites include Flickr, Shutterfly, Picasa, and Photobucket. These sites have much in common with social networking sites, like Facebook and Google+. Pinterest is a social network site that organizes online images and photos into themed boards. Instagram is a mobile app that shares individual photos edited with filters.

Who Is Using Photo Sharing Sites?

• 46% of internet users post original photos and videos online they have created themselves.¹
• People upload an average of more than 300 million images to Facebook every day.²
• Six billion images have been uploaded to Flickr as of August 2011.³
• Pinterest had the greatest growth from 2011 to 2012 in audience and time spent of any social network, across PCs, mobile web and apps.⁴

How Can I Use Photo Sharing Sites in Response to HIV?

• Share photos from HIV-related events such as fundraisers and educational activities.
• Host photo contests and campaigns to raise money, awareness, and involvement.
• Use photos to tell your story or convey your message and link your audience to resources and information.

What are Some Examples From the Field?

• Create your own ad with the Let’s Stop HIV Together Facebook app
• Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation’s Instagram channel

Where Can I Learn More?

• Common Craft’s Video “Online Photo Sharing in Plain English”
• Mashable’s “Pinterest: A Beginner’s Guide to the Hot New Social Network”
• Beth Kanter’s “How Nonprofits Can Get the Most Out of Flickr”

References

¹ Pew Internet & American Life Project, “Online Pictures,” http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Online-Pictures.aspx. Accessed on 1/14/13.

² Facebook, “Capturing Growth: Photo Apps and Open Graph,” https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2012/07/17/capturing-growth--photo-apps-and-open-graph/. Accessed on 1/14/13.

³ Flickr Blog, “6,000,000,” http://blog.flickr.net/en/2011/08/04/6000000000/. Accessed on 1/14/13.

⁴ Nielsen, “Social Media Report 2012, http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/social/2012/. Accessed on 1/14/13.