The popularity of photo sharing has reached epidemic proportions. In our free eBook, we run through the basics of all the social photo sites and apps available and what sets Pongr apart. Sourcre: Pongr (https://corp.pongr.com/resources/)

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THE ULTIMATE
PHOTO SHARING UNIVERSE
And how fits into
the Social Mobile Food Chain
FIELD GUIDE
to the
WWW.PONGR.COM

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“Taking pictures of products is the Number One mobile
shopping activity regardless of phone type.” – comScore
“Glee” actress Dianna Agron shares a pic of a favorite pair of
heels on her Tumblr account.
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Being a lady can be so fun!
#biggirlshoes

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THE MOBILE PHOTO SHARING EXPLOSION
Let’s just say that the self-expression business is booming.
The numbers you’re about to read became outdated the moment we typed them, but they are too
staggering to ignore.
1. Source: “Communities Dominate Brands: Celebrating 30 Years of Mobile Phones,” by Tomi T. Ahonen.
•• Facebook says it gets more than 300 million photo uploads each day.
•• That’s 91.25 billion photos expected this year. Just on Facebook.
•• And to strengthen their mobile presence, they bought Instagram, the photo-app that went from
zero to 30 million users in its first 17 months.
•• Moreover, there are about 2.5 billion active camera phones today, with most of them being
the ONLY camera owned by the mobile customer.1
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NUMBER OF PHOTOS
TAKEN EACH YEAR
ALL PHOTOS
ANALOG PHOTOS
1826
0
10
3B
10B
20B
57B
4B
380 BILLION
35B
1930 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2011
As the recently bankrupt Eastman Kodak Company woefully knows, the kind of photos we take may have
changed forever, but the habit itself knows no limits.
Source: “How Many Photos Have Ever Been Taken?” Kodak’s “1000 Memories” Blog
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WHY PHOTO SHARING WILL CONTINUE ITS GROWTH SPURT
Mobile photo sharing is no passing fad. There’s a reason why film cameras are nearly extinct and digital
camera manufacturers are now scrambling for survival. Actually, according to Mashable,2 there are at
least six reasons:
1. Phone Cameras No Longer Suck – The picture resolution and quality from mobile cameras are now rivaling many Digital SLR cameras.
2. Social Photo Apps Offer Instant Distribution and Gratification – Mobile sharing gives you immediate gratification, allowing
friends and family to simultaneously experience what makes you happy.
3. Simplicity is the Main Feature – The most successful photo sharing sites and apps don’t provide everything but the kitchen
sink. They pick a few fun features and focus on doing them well. No learning curve.
4. Apps Fit The Mobile Lifestyle – Our phone cameras are with us 24/7, meaning that there’s no reason to ever miss a photo-op.
5. Photos Are Now Status Updates – Mobile photo sharing is the visual equivalent of Twitter. Pictures are shared in an ongoing
stream. The photo album is limitless.
6. Anyone Can Feel Like an Artist – Using one-touch filters making pictures look retro or funky makes everyone feel creative
and more likely to continue their self-expression.
2. Read Mashable journalist Shane Snow’s full analysis here.
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FACEBOOK AND TWITTER – STILL HOSTING THE PARTY
It’s worth pausing for a moment to consider that Facebook only began posting photos in late 2005. By the fall
of 2011, Mark Zuckerberg had amassed a digital scrapbook of over 140 billionsnapshots – a collection
more than 10,000 times bigger than the Library of Congress.
Twitter let third-party apps (TwitPic, YFrog) handle its picture sharing until June 2011, when it introduced its own photo hosting arrangement with Photobucket.
Now, the 140-word behemoth that has toppled dictatorships is continuously exploring new visual avenues. Providing a model for the media to mine its archives,
Sports Illustrated now regularly picture-Tweets the greatest moments in sports history as captured in its pages. It’s not surprising that the $1 Billion Facebook
acquisition of Instagram was likely fueled by fears that Twitter might topple a social media throne, too.3
That’s 20 photos for every man,
woman and child on Earth!
3. “Revealed: How Twitter’s secret offer for Instagram made Facebook pay $1B,” by Jennifer Van Grove, VentureBeat, April 26, 2012.
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PINTEREST – NEW GIRL ON THE BLOCK
Nail polish. Wedding dresses. Scrapbook supplies. High heels. Designer handbags.
It’s no wonder that Pinterest, now the third most popular social network behind Facebook and Twitter, is widely regarded as a “No
Boys Allowed” club. Visitors “pin” photos of their favorite things to themed bulletin boards and view other people’s boards for ideas and
inspiration. Browsers “repin” pics they like, the equivalent of a reTweet.
Pinterest’s user base skyrocketed from 400,000 to 18.7 million from May 2011 to March 2012. Analysts at comScore estimate that
85 percent of its users are women.4
According to ZoomSphere, the Top 5* most followed brands 5 on Pinterest are:
4. “Marketers Find a Friend in Pinterest,” The New York Times, April 17, 2012.
5. ZoomSphere Social Media Influence Tracking System, April 30, 2012.
1. The Perfect Palette (Weddings)
2. TheBeautyDepartment.com (Hair and Make-Up)
3. Real Simple Magazine (Décor and Lifestyle)
4. Etsy.com (Crafts)
5. SkinnyTaste.com (Low Fat Recipes)
* As Measured on April 30, 2012.
Although the gender imbalance seems to be self-perpetuating, there’s no reason why more pinboards for traditional
men’s interests couldn’t take root. Dial For Men, which is sponsoring a series of muddy Spartan Races, positioned
their recent Pinterest board as a “beacon of manliness in the sea of femininity.”
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GOOGLE PLUS – HAS FACEBOOK MET ITS MATCH?
Launched in June 2011, Google+ hit the 100 million user mark in only 8 months, much quicker
than Facebook (4.5 years) or Twitter (5 years) did. But Buzzfeed reports that it still remains a
social “ghost town” for many people whose friends and family see no reason to bolt Facebook (800
million users) at the moment. 6
However, because Google has integrated Google+ into its dominant search engine, YouTube and its
news aggregation, perhaps it can afford to be patient.
Google+ Circles allow you to organize your contacts into categories (friends, family, business clients, etc.) and target your messages to
niche groups. This way you’re not boring Grandpa and Grandma with marketing pitches and barraging your customers with baby pictures.
(Facebook was accused of copying this feature for its “Friend Lists.” )
Instead of the Facebook “Like,” Google+ users can endorse your content with a “+1,” reminiscent of that “Spinal Tap” joke about the
heavy metal music volume going up to 11. With your friends’ endorsements (and profile pics) now showing up in search results, there is a
significant SEO benefit to being liked.
Still, marketing challenges remain high. According to HubSpot, 7 the average Google+ visitor spent only 3.3 minutes on the site during the
month of January 2012, compared to about 480 minutes on Facebook and about 100 minutes on Pinterest.
6. Buzzfeed.com, “Is Google Plus Growing Fast Enough To Challenge Twitter, Facebook?” March 29, 2012.
7. “Google Plus vs. Pinterest: Where Should You Market Your Business?” HubSpot.com, March 29, 2012.
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THE PHOTO SHARING CHEAT SHEET
We deliberately titled this eBook the “Ultimate” Field Guide to Photo Sharing, versus calling it the “Comprehensive” one. Listing
every photo app with a social media component would be dizzying, as there are now countless copycats crashing the scene.
But we’ve compiled some select photo sites that should be on your radar.
Many of these photo apps do not have their own strong social networks, heavily relying on Facebook and Twitter to drive traffic.
In fact, we are starting to notice a trend of consolidation as the photo sharing space continues to get more crowded (and confusing).
Hipstamatic and Instagram (owned by Facebook) both add artistic filters to mobile photos to kick up the funkiness. But until
recently, Hipstamatic had no easy, user-friendly way for sharing pics on social media sites. Now they are partners8 with Instagram
lending its sharing platform.
Let’s take a look at the rest…
8. “Instagram clicks with Hipstamatic,” by Dara Kerr, CNET, March 21, 2012
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Hipster

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PHOTO SHARING CHEAT SHEET
CAMERA ZOOM FX COLOR FLICKR
Underscoring the danger to SLR cameras, Camera
ZOOM FX boasts it is the “Fastest Camera on Android”
with up to 10 shots per second – appealing to sports
enthusiasts looking to capture action shots. Also offers
more than 100 special effects, including “Famous
Buddy,” allowing you to “pose” with celebrities.
Launched in March 2011 over the hype of $41 million
in venture capital financing, Color was supposed to
offer real-time, location-based photo sharing. Similar
to the premise of Mobli, it was designed to promote
bonding with fellow concert goers or connect strangers
at public events.
A year later, photos were completely out of the Color
picture. Their new focus: “Broadcast live from your
phone to Facebook. Unlike videos, there’s no audio, editing, or
uploading. You’ve got 30 seconds to tell your story.”
Color has a lot of talent and a lot of money, but their app
has yet to catch fire.
Flickr has 51 million registered members in their social
network devoted solely to photos. They claim 4.5 million
new pics a day or 1,642 million a year, encouraging
members to archive their memories online for public
consumption (and download).
Owned by Yahoo, Flickr prides itself on attracting a
sizeable percentage of professional photographers and
serious hobbyists, offering a Flickr Pro account for an
annual subscription fee.
Flickr, one of the earliest photo sharing pioneers,
recently partnered with Pinterest to let its members
automatically “pin” pics there with proper attribution.
One of the persistent complaints about Pinterest from
artists and photographers has been strangers posting
their content without permission or credit.
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PHOTO SHARING CHEAT SHEET
HIPSTAMATIC HIPSTER INSTAGRAM
“Digital Photography Never Looked So Analog.”
Hipstamatic promises the “unpredictable beauty and
fun” of the plastic toy cameras from yesteryear. In a
world of rectangular aspect ratios, the app churns out
square images and sells prints at 4”, 7” and 30” at their
Hipstasmart Store.
Now owned by AOL, Hipster brings back the lost charm
of sending postcards. Users show off tourist attractions,
restaurants, events and local communities – and share
what they’re doing – by transforming their snapshots
into snazzy, location-based eCards.
“It’s Photo Sharing, Reinvented.”
Facebook’s Billion Dollar Baby seeks to make “sharing
your life as instant and magic as the first Polaroid
cameras.” Transforms normal snapshots into “works of
art” by using special effects filters that change the tone
and lighting or add a motion blur to static action pics.
Hipster
National Geographic
recently used
Instagram for a live
streaming blog of their
sponsored Mount
Everest expedition..
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PHOTO SHARING CHEAT SHEET
MOBLI PATH PICPLZ
“See the world through other people’s eyes.”
Mobli allows users to form instant communities at a
shared experience (like a wedding, concert or sports
game) and share photos and videos on location and in
real time. For example, fans in the front row of a rock
concert can share their good fortune – and camera
angle – with everyone else.
Early investors include actor Leonardo DiCaprio and
cyclist Lance Armstrong.
“Keep a Personal Journal, or Path, of Your Life.”
Path, the photo sharing social network for small
groups of family and friends, was founded by former
Facebook executive Dave Morin. The goal: A more
intimate experience shared with “real” friends and not
peripheral ones from You-Know-Where.
Initially, friends were limited to 50 but it was later
expanded to 150.
Path automatically updates your location and shares
it with your network, encouraging you to respond to
photos with one of five core emotions: Smile, Frown,
Gasp, Laugh and Love.
Nike was the first Path API partner, allowing its fans
to share pics and maps of their latest workouts.
“Photo Sharing Made Fun and Easy.”
Picplz is an Instagram alternative that combines creative
photo filters and borders with photo editing apps. Like
Hipstamatic, it has a Russian Toy Camera setting. You
must have a Facebook or Twitter account to sign up.
Picplz photos are tagged by location, allowing you to
browse galleries by cities or countries. There is also
a gallery feature called “Collections,” which groups
together personal themes, a la Pinterest.
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PHOTO SHARING CHEAT SHEET
PIXABLE TUMBLR TWITPIC & YFROG
Pixable is “your photo inbox,” an aggregator service to
see all your Facebook, Flickr, Picasa and other social
media pictures as well as all your friends’ pictures in one
gallery. Members can rank and sort pics into “Best of”
feeds and get alerts on when they are tagged in photos.
The service created a splash a few years back by offering
photo mosaic posters comprised of Facebook photos.
Pixable borrowed its name from the Miss Universe
and Miss USA pageants, which used to call their most
photogenic gals “Miss Pixable” in the 1960s.
“Follow the World’s Creators.”
Hey, who really needs words anyway? Tumblr is the king
of the photo-of-the-day blog (usually with short pithy
captions) and the format is ideally suited to mobile
posts. The media has dubbed this “microblogging.”
Tumblr says 50 percent of its content is photos,
with the balance being text, links, music and video.
A “Reblogging” function allows you to post other
contributors’ photos/content on your own blog, similar
to the “Share” button on Facebook.
Tumblr photo blogs are catching on with celebrities
as a way to share visual content with fans. Jimmy
Fallon, Lady Gaga, Zooey Deschanel, Dianna Agron,
John Mayer, Alicia Keys, and Katy Perry are Tumblr
devotees, but the real stars are lesser-known shutterbugs
(like you and me) who share random joy.
Once upon a time, there was no direct way to upload
and share pictures on Twitter. Third-party sites like TwitPic
and YFrog filled the void, attracting massive followings.
But in June 2011, Twitter decided to manage its own
photo albums.
TwitPic and YFrog suddenly lost their reason for
existence. Users still stick with them out of habit, kind of
like the people who still have AOL email accounts, but
put these two photo-sharing sites on the endangered
species list.
1966 Miss California and Miss USA
Maria Remenyi was voted “Miss Pixable.”
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?HEY, WHAT’S THE DEAL? WHY IS PONGR
MISSING FROM THIS LIST?
No worries. We’re not suffering from marketing amnesia.
Pongr is not on the photo app list because it doesn’t really belong.
(Did you also notice that many of these photo sharing apps start to blur into one after a while?)

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WHAT PHOTO SHARING APPS DO WELL
(and what they do not do)
DO...
… Provide an easy way to share lots of photos.
… Make everyone feel artistic.
… Attract large, general purpose user bases.
… Get fragmented in a sea of apps, but connect
with Facebook and Twitter pretty well.
DO NOT...
… Enable direct-response marketing.
… Create branded experiences around the photos.
… Integrate with CRM and other marketing assets.
… Work very well for sweepstakes and promotion rules.
… Use image intelligence or location-awareness.
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WHAT IS PONGR?
Pongr is not a competitor of the Instagrams and Hipstamatics. It doesn’t seek to replicate Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.
We complement them by helping brands take advantage of social photo sharing in a way that is scalable for contests, promotions and
shopper marketing campaigns.
Pongr is a photo marketing engine that creates direct responses relevant to consumers in moments that matter.
We use image recognition, location-awareness, and social knowledge to help create more
effective dialogues between consumers and brand advertisers. We make any visual
media—such as print, out-of-home and product packaging—interactive without the use of
QR codes or special apps.
Pongr can turn ordinary TV commercials into clickable experiences without having to
shush everyone else in the room! Audio recognition is admirable, but it runs into snags if
people are talking too loud.
Pongr helps brands drive large volumes of fan photos to their own sites instead of just
floating aimlessly across Facebook and Twitter (Ask us how brands can take advantage of
Pongr’s widgets and API).
If the Guinness Book of World Records noticed such things – and it should – Pongr would be
listed as the curator of the World’s Largest Collection of Mountain Dew Photos.
We can do the same for you.
Learn more about “Soaring Brands: Skydiving with Doritos
and Dew,” Pongr’s experience working on Pepsi and Frito-Lay’s
“Ultimate Match-Up” campaign surrounding Super Bowl XLVI.
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Imagine you are at a school dance. (Feeling awkward yet?)
On one side of the crowded room, there are marketers who care about direct response. They want to slap a QR code on every
ad and interact with customers with the charm of a supermarket scanner.
They’re smart to go after meaningful consumer data, but socially they come across as dorks. Scanning a bar code feels SO impersonal.
On the other side of the room are the cute photo sharing apps. They have magnetic personalities and are fun to be around. But
there’s no business model underneath the smile.
Pongr is the matchmaker. We bring together the need for meaningful direct response campaigns with a fun and engaging fan experience.
Customers take pics of the people and stuff they love, not a serial number.
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READY TO GET STARTED?
We are the only photo sharing platform built for brands from the ground up!
Ready to launch your campaign? Pongr offers free photo sharing tools for small businesses
as well as customized platforms for major brands.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
E: sales@pongr.com • P: +1.617.938.3500 • F: +1.617.938.3505
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