Year of the Photoblog
2004: The Year Of The PhotoBlog
The winner for Big Trend of 2004 has been chosen. Nominations are closed. (The image is from a Brazilian blog - it’s a worldwide trend.)
As it was portals in 1998, and blogs in 2003, 2004 is all about photoblogging.
The idea of posting photos easily to the Web and sharing them is the trend of the year, without question. Kodak was the first to get into this, but like everything else they’ve tried they missed the wave. Other photofinishers like Ritz jumped in, but they missed the main chance as well.
They missed the main chance because they tried to charge people for sharing a few photos among a few friends, without context.
The main chance is to let people post photos free, to let them do it from their cameras, to post it all to public Web sites, and to call it blogging.
This is a trend that goes across the Web. It’s huge in the mainstream, where Google has Picasa and Yahoo has launched camera phone uploads. It’s huge in blogging, where the Technorati Top 100 is now filled with sites like Fotolog.Net, PhotoMatt, and a host of Modblog sites, which has come from nowhere fast with its picture gallery capability. (Cameraphone picture from USA Today.)
What’s it all about?
Camera phones.
I’m not seeing a lot of art here. I’m seeing snapshots. I’m seeing friends smiling into the camera, families standing in front of tourist traps, cute dogs and kitties. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
July 28th, 2004 at 9:02 am
Too bad photomatt isn’t a photoblog. It’s the personal site for a little shit programmer.
July 28th, 2004 at 9:30 am
The other thing that’s not mentioned is that cameraphones (while oftentmes banned from certain types of businesses) can be very useful in business, especially in the field or on-locations. I use mine for personal reference in addition to random pictures of food labels and other silliness.