Imagery Gone Viral – Is Photo the New Language?

GIF of a dancing gorilla is a sure shot way to tell the reader these days what kind of glass their smart phone has. Imagery has become one of the most effective ways to attract attention. Social media is something of an online album and we tend to speak more by shared photos than by typed words these days. When one thinks of capturing and sharing a moment with the world, it requires a bit of thought as there are plenty of options available online. Brands are getting highly dependent on images that depict the right kind of message they want to convey to their customers.

There are websites solely dedicated to uploading, posting, sharing and even "liking" or "disliking" photos. The incredible expansion of smart phones market coupled with improved internet data speed have given new definition to image sharing. This new trend of liking and voting for images online has taken the world by storm and does not show any signs of slowing down soon. Clearly, images speak louder than words. There are sites that offer the users to upload a photo and also add effects and filters to enhance its appeal. These pictures are then shared across a variety of social networking sites and gain followers by every passing minute.

Online image voting has become a very common practice through which selecting a picture pertaining to a particular mood, environment or setting has been simplified. Businesses have started depending on such sites for various purposes. Such an organized collection of mass images enables an entire team of professionals working on an ad campaign to vote for their favourite image and a cumbersome selection process is over within a matter of minutes. Studies have proven that presence of image in a promotional page or an explanatory venue increases responses from viewers by up to 53%.

Digital photo sharing is growing in importance for businesses internationally as the sites support almost every known image format there is in every resolution. According to experts, images are 120% more successful in engaging the attention of a viewer than plain text. Some experts also believe images to last in the viewer’s memory up to 5 times longer than written text. These image sharing programs provide an endless collection of images with intelligent tagging system that enables users to search photos that are most appropriate to their field of work or mood. The most aesthetic and appealing pictures are voted for the most online and are naturally more in demand than others. A collection of such highly voted pictures can be shared with the team without having to spend time and resources in emailing and file transfers.