Mobile Photos

Like the rest of you, I have my phone on me at all times. It's a part of my mental check-list every morning before I leave for work. Every night before I go out, every day when I leave my office for lunch. It's just there. My left leg pant pocket feels empty, naked and vulnerable when it's empty. My iPhone is a part of me; good or bad that's my reality.

Because it's my reality, I'm inclined to believe it is good. And not because I can check my email wherever I go or because I can check-in to Foursquare or read a review on Yelp - the value rests on the tiny, mobilized camera I have on-hand. With ever new iteration of the iPhone comes another enhanced version of the camera. A flash and better pixelation are just a couple things that make my trusty iPhone a useful item to have on-call.

Take the above photo for example, snapped using an iPhone and taken by a regular Joe who saw something pretty and wanted to keep a record of it. Having an high-res camera on you at all times gives you the ability to capture and share content in real-time with friends and family 0 and unlike the Gen 1 cameras of yesteryear (think the old side-roller Blackberry's), these cameras deliver quality images combined with social sharing options. Winning.

A couple days ago, I read an article by Shane Snow on Mashable that talked about the major factors driving this massive boom in mobile sharing of photos. The #1 Factor was "Phone Cameras No Longer Suck," aptly put and something I already touched on. I think what's even more important, however, is that there are simple apps that encourage uploads and sharing (Instagram is one I like) and obviously Flickr and FB, enables each of us to feel like an artist with fans who care about our content.

So what's the value to brands? To me that's simple; it's nearly free for brands to engage their fans, and offer incentives for them to share their experiences with others within the community, which in turn will be picked up by friends and spring-board social sharing. Putting a dollar value on social sharing and word-of-mouth is tough, but we know it's real; however difficult to articulate.