What’s So Special About Mobile Photo Sharing Apps?
What’s so special about mobile photo sharing apps? Seriously, I’m asking. Eric Schonfeld listed mobile photo sharing apps as one of his “Seven Technologies That Will Rock 2011”. For the last 3 months on twitter: If a pic came from an iPhone, it had some hipster, faux 1960’s Kodachrome effect on it. I’ll admit it was kinda cool. …for about 15 minutes. It’s only art once, then it’s just how it is. Like how every girl buys a poster of Van Gogh’s Starry Night for her dorm room freshman year.
These apps have been popping up everywhere lately. Take Path, for instance. The hook for Path is that you can only share your photos with up to 50 people. Novel? Yes, but I can’t help but feel like there is something very high school-y about the whole deal. ‘Sorry, these pics of ironic occurrences are for my mustachioed friends in sweater vests and skinny jeans. Go look at 10MP, crystal clear photos on flickr with all the commoners’. Maybe it’s just the guttural reaction of a tragically uncool (and not in a loveable Hollywood loser type of way) band geek hating on the popular guy he never had a conversation with, but because he plays football and has a pretty girlfriend so he figures he must be a jerk, right? Well, maybe. I’ve found the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.
Low-value added applications that challenge more established services typically burn up hot and fast. Look at Rockmelt, the newest attempt at an integrated social browser. It blew up in October with coverage on every major tech news site. I had to fend off hundreds of ferocious tech geeks for an early beta invite. I didn’t hear a word about it after that first week. Wanna take a guess how many are still using it? I’d wager not many.
Path is certainly not alone. One of my favorite Tech Crunch writers, Alexia Tsotsis, described newcomer Instagram, as “killing it” this past Halloween, which it did, nearly doubling its daily traffic. With such a glowing endorsement I figured this must be a breakthrough new twitter app. I immediately downloaded it onto my 3G turned iPod touch and couldn’t wait to see what all the fuss was about.
I’m still waiting. Instagram is a 3rd party photo sharing service, just like twitpic or yFrog, but with an added feature that allows you to add one of a handful of aging effects to your post. You do have the option to leave it as-is with no filter, although I’m not sure anyone else has ever noticed that. Don’t get me wrong, Instagram does what it does well. One of the few iPhone apps I ever paid for was Hipstamtic. I spent a lot of time trying to find the right mix of layers to create the effects Instagram does with one press. Job well done there. What Instagram doesn’t do is integrate with twitter. In order to post an Instagram photo you need to use their app. Not a huge problem, but it’s one more thing. In addition, the twitter posting feature is very basic, so no link shortening or looking up complicated twitter names. When you want to view a picture on Instagram you have to leave your app and open it in the browser. I don’t want another service to sign up for, I don’t need another password to remember or a profile to manage. I don’t need another social network. Especially not when I have full twitter apps that provide 90% of Instagram’s functionality built right in.
Since I went back to my 3G I’ve been trying to give Instagram another shot. I keep trying to remember to use it, but my brain just defaults to my Echofon or Twitter apps. That tells me I probably just don’t need something like this. What it does tell me is that the current photo sharing services need to get off their butts and make with the new features.
Instagram and Path specifically are in the early stages of development and have a lot of growing up to do. Right now it’s difficult for me to see these services surviving long if they remain free-standing applications. Their only differentiating features are easily duplicated by more established services and if those services have any brains they’ll get on that quick.
What do you think? Are you an Instagram faithful? A Path devotee? Tell me why I’m wrong. Point out what I’ve missed. Is there something deeper in these apps that makes them desirable to average users? Let me know in the comments or email me at thegmenshow@gmail.com or @thegmenshow.