Social Photo Crowdsourcing

Bringing Beautiful Back

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:51:00 -0400

Hi There,

With the release of the Olapic Instagram Collector we’ve seen an incredible amount of outstanding new photos! The take-away: Instagram photos from your community are simply fresher, higher quality, and look more beautiful on your site. At Olapic, we want to help you use photos to engage your community in a way that’s both authentic and deeply personal. Thanks for your constant ideas, feedback, and unwavering support! :)

Sincerely,
The Olapic Team

Newsletter #13: A Picture's Worth 1 Billion Dollars

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:34:43 -0400

A Picture’s Worth 1 Billion Dollars

Hello again,

It’s official. Even the people that live under rocks (do these people actually exist?) have heard about Facebook acquiring Instagram for $1 Billion. With all of this added buzz from the deal, it seems that everyone and their grandma are now snapping and sharing pics in Lomo-fi. Last week we included Youtube, Flickr, and Instagram into our list of upload options. This week we’re excited to introduce the arrival of the Olapic Instagram Collector! This handy new tool allows you to pull photos from the entire Instagram network and display them in all of their filtered glory on your site. What’s more, you can collect photos with specific hashtags that relate to your organization. What better way to tap into a network of people that are already talking about you!

Enjoy!

-The Olapic Team

Newsletter #12: It's Game Time!

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:15:50 -0400

Hello,

Real fans live, breathe, and eat every breaking news story, stat, and announcement made by their favorite team - from the moment they wake up, to the moment they go to bed in their blue-and-gold-themed bedroom. At Olapic, we want every team to have an online space where fans, players, and team officials can interact on a minute-to-minute basis. Here are just a few of the ways fans and players are using Olapic to start conversations.

Baltimore Ravens pets show their support!
NY Giants fans showcase their gear.
Gameday pics from the Dallas Maverick.

We can’t wait to see what you do next!

-The Olapic Team

Are You Hangry!?!?

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:39:04 -0400

Yes, you read that right. The supergenius cupcake-creating masterminds over at BakedByMelissa are throwing a finger-licking monthly photo-contest. Winner get’s 100 free cupcakes! That’s right, 100 mouthwateringly scrumptious miniature cakes that fit in the palm of your hand! I think you know where we’re going to get our cupcake fix this afternoon! We’ve been drooling over today’s early submissions all morning. So much so that one of our founders, Jose, is getting “hangry” (hangry = angry because you’re hungry). Here are some of our favorites! Enjoy!

Hashtagerrific!

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:33:41 -0400

Hi,

There are zillions of photos being shared on Twitter everyday. Wouldn’t it be super-mega-awesome if you could tap into that network and reach out to potential new fans? With the new Olapic Twitter Collector you can do just that! Here’s a refresher on how it works. Need help launching a photo campaign? We’ve gotcha covered! In other news, the MIT Media Lab guys have developed a camera that can see around corners. Prepare to have your mind blown, in 2 picoseconds!

Go get ‘em Tiger!

-The Olapic Team

Introducing The New Olapic!

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:00:44 -0400

Hello!

With the arrival of spring, we’re thrilled to announce the newly redesigned Olapic! Our dedicated team of developers have been working around the clock to build a faster, more efficient Olapic from the ground up. What this means for you:

A more powerful, stable Olapic platform
A more beautiful, seamless photo-browsing experience
A more rubust moderation queue for bulk editing
A new Twitter #hastag collector that can collect w/o @mentions

Thank you for your constant support and valuable feedback. We’re excited for what the future holds and look forward to providing you with a top quality Olapic experience.

Sincerely,
The Olapic Team

How To: Use Olapic at an Event

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:35:00 -0400

Austin is not only the capital of America’s proudest state, but home to the annual SXSW festival that brings in bands, brands, and quality craft brews from around the country. Mashable, the social media news site, hosted an event at a downtown venue and used Olapic to gather photos from party goers who snapped pics on their mobile phones. Read on to learn how to use Olapic at your next event!

Step 1. Write an article about the event (before it happens)

Step 2. Promote your event #hashtag across your social media accounts

Step 3. GAMECHANGER: Promote the event #hashtag AT THE EVENT!!!

Step 4. Enjoy yourself and have a awesome time!

Newsletter 7: Photoception!

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:40:00 -0400

Top O’ the Mornin’ to Ya,

Have you ever wanted to revisit your past or become your favorite artist? If you answered yes to one or both of those questions then you should create your very own Metaphoto Gallery! And while we’re on the subject of self-reference, have you been keeping up with your users lately? (wag-of-the-finger) If you happen to be in Austin for SXSW over the weekend we hope that you’re taking advantage of all the mobile-photo-hungry-shutterbugs stalking the streets! Next week’s calender is looking rather, well, Green! March 15th is “The Ides of March” marking the 1st day of Spring! And Saturday March 17th is Saint Patricks Day! If that doesn’t get your engines going for jumpstarting your Olapic galleries, then I don’t know what will! Well, maybe apart from this insanely inspirational video!

Thumbs Up for Rock n’ Roll!

-The Olapic Team

How to Feature Your Users!

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 14:48:56 -0500

It’s incredibly important to reach out, reward, and congratulate your fans and/or readers in order to foster meaningful long term relationships with them. You can highlight a specific user (or of group users) by displaying their high quality, featured content in…

1. In an article/post on your website

2. In a separate gallery on your website

3. In the print edition of your publication

Nom Nom. Our Favorite Eats on the Lower East!

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 13:26:00 -0500

Last Febuary the Olapic Team decided to play a little “lunch exploration game” on the Lower East Side (near our new office). We abided by one rule, and one rule alone: never go to the same restaurant twice for the entire month. After four memorable weeks of stuffing our faces with a variety of local chow, we’ve come up with a short-list of the best grubspots on the Lower East Side (or at least within walking distance of our office!). Read on for our top tasty picks and holla back if you know of an awesome place we should try out!

Note: No criterion was used to judge food other than the collective satisfaction of fellow eaters present.

Warm Soba over flame @ Cocoron

Chicken Gyro w/ Feta Fries @ Souvlaki

Turkey Burger @ Mikes

The infamous Chicken Sandwich @ Cheekys

Click here for more photos from our culinary adventure!

Hi! The Olapic Newsletter will now be bringing you the latest...

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 17:09:07 -0500

Hi!

The Olapic Newsletter will now be bringing you the latest news and ideas to help kickstart your next Olapic gallery! This week’s roundup includes some incredible user pics of Lower Manhattan, a solid example of a weekly photo contest , and some pointers on how to run a successful photo campaign . Made any food-related galleries lately? According to this article, food is fast becoming a major social media driver. In photo-sharing news, Instagram has a cool new trend and its giving us tunnel vision! Next week’s schedule is looking pretty wacky: March 6th is “Frozen Food Day” and March 11th is “Worship of Tools Day.” Get your galleries ready!

Keep sharing,

-The Olapic Team

Photo Gallery of the Week: Sunshots! Baltimore Sun’s...

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 09:33:00 -0500

Photo Gallery of the Week: Sunshots! Baltimore Sun’s Weekly Photo Contest

If you’re thinking about starting a weekly photo contest for your publication then look no further than The Baltimore Sun. The photos they’ve been receiving are breathtaking. Each week the Baltimore Sun’s photography director, Robert Hamilton, picks a winning photo and an honorable mention, offers a bit of information about the featured photographer who took each photo, and describes why they were chosen as the featured photos. Some of their past contest themes have included: Street Scenes, Portrait, Love, Happiness is…, and many more. Check out their Olapic Galleries for more inspiration. But first, check out a few of these stunners and see if you can guess the themes for them!

Photo Gallery of the Week: Art Around Us The online artistic...

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:19:00 -0500

Photo Gallery of the Week: Art Around Us

The online artistic haven, Youmeandcharlie.com, called on readers to submit photos of inspirational art found in unlikely places. The result, an incredible photo gallery showcasing street art from around the world. Just another creative way Olapic is being used to share quality content. Check out the full gallery here. Above are a few of our favorite contributions.

Olapic Newsletter: Kickstarting Your Campaigns

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:17:00 -0500

Howdy,

The Olapic community is continuing to grow as we receive high quality user-submitted photos from followers all over the world! For this week’s newsletter we’re going to talk about promotion and trend tracking.

For every Olapic gallery that you launch, promotion is key to getting the word out. Promoting a new gallery should take place across all of your organization’s social networks (Twitter, FB, Google+, etc.). Nevertheless, keep in mind that sometimes your followers will submit unintended photos. It’s your job to identify and build upon you community trends that arise organically.

For example, when the NY Giants were collecting photos from their fans during the Superbowl they noticed an incredible influx of giants-themed food creations! They quickly ran with the trend and create a gallery called Super Bowl 2012 Food. This new fan-created gallery became one of the most popular galleries on photos.giants.com!

As usual, here are three interesting articles we’ve discovered since the last newsletter. Enjoy!

Newsrooms can buy Facebook friends, but user engagement is not for sale
Great take on the differences between active and one-time-only brand followers. “‘You can still have a lot a likes and not be seeing a lot of impressions…Even though your page shows 100,000 likes, only 10,000 or 20,000 people may be seeing it.’”

Are Photos Losing Meaning and Permanence?
Solid review of our current photo-overload. How ease-of-use (supplied by popular photography applications) presents issues over quality and meaning for serious photographers.

Marc Schiller Reveals The Secrets Of Social Media Marketing
“What brands need to do is to recognize that need [of a fan’s desire to be heard], and to help fulfill that need. The brands that get closest to their customers are the ones that celebrate the creativity, the presence of the audience.”

Keep Sharing!

Photo Gallery of the Week: NY Giants Edition

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:45:00 -0500

The weeks leading up to the New York Giant’s phenomenal Superbowl XLVI victory was full of excitement and anticipation. To show their support, Giants fans sent in photos wearing their favorite giants gear from all corners of the globe - from San Francisco, Thailand, Rome, and even Jamaica!

At Olapic HQ, we were amazed by the sheer quality and number of photos that Giants fans sent in before, during, and after the Superbowl. We received a ton of post-Superbowl pics from the Giants celebration day parade in downtown Manhattan that were one of a kind! To see all of the Giants galleries go to photos.giants.com

The Warm Up

Superbowl 2012 Good Luck Charms

Even cats and dogs gotta show their support! See more here.

To see more fan’s repping their Giants gear check out the Superbowl 2012 Giants Gear gallery.

Go to the Super Bowl 2012 Food gallery for more tasty Superbowl-inspired creations!

NY Giant Parade and Pep Rally

Instagram: Featured: Mobile Photo Group

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:02:05 -0500

Instagram: Featured: Mobile Photo Group:

instagram:

Earlier this year, a group of mobile photographers got together to form the Mobile Photo Group, an international collective of 11 photographers dedicated to promoting their work and presenting mobile photography as an important and evolving form of photography. It just so happens that some…

"Football isn’t just about the game. There are so many things that go on around it like fan clubs,..."

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:27:00 -0500

““Football isn’t just about the game. There are so many things that go on around it like fan clubs, tailgating, and traveling to road games. So this is obviously something people get really excited about and a way to get them involved creatively on a more personal level.””

- Dave Lang, Baltimore Ravens’ digital media manager

Fan Reactions! An Awesome Weekend @Olapic HQ! Olapic HQ is still...

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:22:00 -0500

Fan Reactions! An Awesome Weekend @Olapic HQ!

Olapic HQ is still buzzing with all of the excitement from over the weekend! Saturday we were featured on Mashable and Sunday our favorite team in the NFL, the New York Giants, experienced the “Olapic Effect” (receiving hundreds of photos on their site before, during and after the game). Winning the Superbowl was icing on the cake!

Here are a few of our favorite fan photos and responses (after getting their photos published on the NY Giants website). Thanks to all who submitted! We loved seeing Giants fans show their pride, support, and creativity! Enjoy :)

HOLY SHIT THE @Giants WEBSITE PUBLISHED MY PICTURE. IM LITERALLY CRYING RIGHT NOW twitter.com/aidanielle/sta…
— Aidan (@aidanielle) February 5, 2012

This is the best birthday ever on the @Giants website twitter.com/margeyfish/sta…
— meggie fisher (@margeyfish) February 4, 2012

Check out more Superbowl 2012 Food here

3 Ways Social Media is Transforming the Superbowl Experience

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:42:00 -0500

If you’re lucky enough to be watching the game from within the stadium next Sunday, then count yourself as one of the lucky ones. Superbowl 2012 is expected to have one of the “five smallest” attendances ever recorded with a total seating capacity of 68,000 [indystar]. What will this mean? With an estimated 100 million plus television viewers tuning in, and game day commercials designed to engage fans online, Superbowl-related social media activity is going to be supercharged on an unprecedented level. Here’s the rundown on what to expect…

Hint: Insane fan photos, talking bears, and a one-of-a-kind NFL-backed “Social Media Command Center.”

USER GENERATED CONTENT
While players won’t be able to tweet from the sidelines this Sunday, that wont stop fans from sharing live, in-game content over Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You’ll be sure to see fresh new perspectives covering all aspects of the game such as photos and videos of: fan traditions and superstitions, team-inspired food, fans showing their pride, and on-field plays as they happen.

NY Giants Olapic Gallery - Giants fans can Tweet photos to @Giants and upload photos and videos from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. They’ll all show up on photos.giants.com

ADVERTISERS JUMPING ON THE SOCIAL BANDWAGON
This year, advertisers are using commercials as jumping off points to start extended conversations - on a variety of social media networks - that will take place long after the game has concluded. Top consumer brands have already begun rolling out teasers trailers and hints at their Superbowl commercial surprise. This month-long narrative translates into more people getting more excited and sharing their favorite commercials with one another online. What to watch out for…

The Coca-Cola Polar Bears - On Sunday the Coca-Cola Polar bears will be coming alive! Complete with a live video feed of the bears watching the game and responding to Twitter and Facebook questions.

SOCIAL MEDIA COMMAND CENTER
Need help finding a parking spot or bar to watch the game in downtown Indianapolis? Have no fear! A “Social Media Command Center,” run by the marketing agency Raidious, has been set up near the stadium to provide:

[a] range of info to help both visitors and locals navigate the scene, including traffic, parking, events, where to eat, which streets are closed and more. They’ll also answer question on Twitter and Facebook through the Super Bowl 2012′s main accounts (blog.indystar.com).

Raidious agents will be monitoring and responding to Twitter and Facebook feeds for 15 hours on Gameday. Remember: If you’ve had a few too many and find yourself stumbling around downtown searching for a cab, just tweet it to the command center!

How to embrace User Generated Content without pissing off photo-journalists, a lesson from CNN's iReport

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:01:00 -0500

iReport, CNN’s citizen-journalist-social-network, was officially launched in August of 2006. The service allows anyone to upload report-worthy content to CNN’s website. Recently, the CNN Press Room announced an important milestone for the platform: there are now more than one million registered iReporters worldwide. And if that doesn’t make any of you small, independent local news reporters shake in your knee-high rain boots - get this. Last year, CNN held the first “iReport Awards.” Award categories included, among others: Breaking News, Personal Story, Compelling Imagery, Commentary, and interestingly, something called “Spirit Honorees.” Spirit Honorees (five were chosen) are iReporters “who have distinguished themselves for their positive attitude, [and] willingness to try new things [ireport.cnn.com].” Whats more, once a month CNN International airs a half-hour TV program hosted by Errol Barnett. The show highlights the most newsworthy iReport and citizen journalism reports on the Internet.

CRITICISM

Most of iReport’s criticism falls into two camps that I’ll call the “no pay” camp and the “job cuts” camp. The “no pay” side states its unfair for corporate news networks to not pay iReporters who help make top headline news. Especially, when the content supplied by iReporters becomes instantly sharable anywhere on the web once its handed over to CNN. Think this argument sounds eerily like the recent lawsuit filed by upset blogger Jonathan Tasini regarding his unpaid blog contributions on Huffingtonpost.com? It is. And at the moment, Arianna doesn’t appear to be budging on her no-pay-rule for the site’s army of bloggers.

On the other hand, the “job cuts” side says that quality, hardworking journalists are being displaced by iReporters. Jakob Schiller, over at Wired starkly describes a recent corporate squabble at CNN. “CNN recently laid off at least 50 staff, including several photojournalists, in favor of affiliate contributions and [you guessed it] iReport.” The news, if you’re a struggling photo-journalist, appears to be grim.

THE GOOD SIDE

Despite all of the backlash coming in from angry commenters and confused photo-journalists now out of work, iReport does have one significant redeeming quality: iReports (user-generated content in general for that matter) helps focus attention and bring media coverage to outlying, seemingly non-newsworthy events that have traditionally been ignored by mainstream media outlets. Take, for instance, the media standoff between Occupy Wall Street protesters and the major news networks in 2011. Protesters, enraged by the movement’s limited media coverage, sent in thousands of photos and videos from Twitter and Facebook demanding to be heard. Like iReport, Olapic, a photo-crowdsourcing platform, allows any brand or publisher - that isn’t CNN - the ability to collect photos and videos from their users. Olapic was used heavily during the Occupy Wall Street movement here in NYC. See for yourself by checking out the Olapic-powered uPhoto section of the New York Daily News.

The iReport team over at CNN recognized this themselves when, earlier this month, they began receiving a tremendous amount of content coming in from protests taking place in Nigeria. Just yesterday, Craig Silverman, a journalist at Poynter wrote, “The result was increased coverage on CNN properties featuring the material submitted by a range of Nigerian citizens and freelancers.” The Nigerians demanded that the world know what was happening in their streets and, through iReport contributions, their voices were heard.

WHERE WE GO FROM HERE

Naturally, after reading all of this, I was as curious as you probably are to see how all of this “iReporting” business works from the user-side.

Ok, I’m on CNN’s iReport page. In the top right corner there’s an upload button that allows me to submit “My Story,” add my location, and attach any video, photos, or audio files.

Back to the main iReport page. There are lots of large, high-quality photos with headline titles above each photo. The featured piece at the top reads, “‘At Last’ is our song: Thank you, Etta James.”

Clicking on this last piece leads you to an article written by Rachel Rodriguez in the entertainment section of the site. Under the title, to the left of her name is written, “This story started on CNN iReport.”

Interesting. The article is written by Rodriguez but grew from the germs of multiple coalesced iReports (all relating to the recent death of Etta James of course). This brings me back to something Silverman said earlier,

It’s common for an iReport producer to ask questions about more than just the material that was submitted. In this sense, an iReporter is a hybrid reporter/source. The material they send is treated as reporting, but their personal experience and knowledge makes them an important source of additional information and context [Poynter].

Whether or not major news media agencies will figure out ways to reward their contributors with real money - instead of virtual medals and badges - will be seen in the coming months/years. Nevertheless, I can’t help but ask myself: Is this the future of large-scale corporate journalism? If it is then it appears that the journalist of the future won’t be the idealized daring reporter hitting the streets armed with just a camera and a notepad.

Instead, next year’s journalist is likely to be of the type we’re seeing more and more of everyday. That guy you see sitting alone, in front of his computer, on the x-teenth floor of some New York high rise, synthesizing a steady stream of user-submitted content coming in from all over the world.

Power to the people.