Stories bind us together as human beings. Visual storytelling in particular allow us to connect with one another and engage with the world around us in meaningful ways. As social media evolves photos, and the use of photography, aren’t simply relegated to a “photos” category, but rather photos / photography cross-cuts categories and provide a greater opportunity for engagement across the sharing economy. With more than a billion photos being uploaded each day—from crowd wisdom to match making and shopping to location-based discovery—brands, organizations, and individuals can leverage photography (visual storytelling) in very exciting and lucrative ways. * * * * * Presentation originally given at Social Media Strategies Summit (#SMSsummit), Las Vegas, NV February 5, 2014 http://www.socialmediastrategiessummit.com/las-vegas-2014/

1. VISUAL STORYTELLING: From Kittehs to Selfies
Creating Value with Photos in the Sharing Economy
Robert Michael Murray; National Geographic, February 5, 2014

10. ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images

12. Deputy Director of
Photography Ken Geiger says
a selfie documents an “I
don’t believe I’m here”
moment. “I do it to share
with my kids,” he says. He
shot a selfie video several
years ago when he was up in
a sequoia tree 200 feet off the
ground on an assignment.
“It’s not about making your
picture. It’s to show
yourself in a situation.”
For Pamela Chen, a senior
photo editor at the magazine,
the post card is selfaddressed—or for friends
and family only. “I don’t post
them online,” she says. “It’s
like a scrapbook. I am
taking notes about my life
and it’s the quickest way
for me to know where I’ve
been and if I want to
remember a feeling.”
All By My Selfie: National Geographic Photographers Muse on the Word of the Year, Cathy Newman

14. Georgetown
UNIVERSITY

16. BLOOMBERG

21. So what do I know about social ….
As of: Januray 21,2014
Built National Geographic into a Top-Tier Brand on Social Channels
Fans/Followers/Subscribers
65,000,000
FACEBOOK
INSTAGRAM
-- 5th Largest Media Brand Page
-- Largest Media Brand Account
-- Largest Nonprofit Page
-- Largest Nonprofit Account
65M
!
GOOGLE+
-- Largest Media Brand Page
-- Largest Nonprofit Page
51M
48,750,000
!
YOUTUBE
-- 2nd Largest Media Brand Channel
-- Largest Nonprofit Channel
!
TWITTER
-- 13th Largest Media Brand Page
-- Largest Nonprofit Page
39M
32,500,000
26M
21M 21M
19M 18M
14M 13M
16,250,000
0
Facebook
Instagram
MTV
Disney
NatGeo
ESPN
Discovery
CNN
History
NYT
TIME
Economist
Twitter
YouTube
Google+
10M 10M
8M 6M 6M
5M
BBC
People
HuffPo
NPR
WIRED
PBS
3M 2M
WWF Smithsonian
NOTE: Data is based on public fan, follower, and subscriber counts for a brand’s main social media account and does not represent their entire footprint.

22. social media is
constantly
evolving and
changing …

33. so·cial
relating to or involving
activities in which people
spend time talking to each
other or doing enjoyable
things with each other

34. “Man is by nature a social
animal; an individual who is
unsocial naturally and not
accidentally is either beneath
our notice or more than
human.”
!
― Aristotle, Politics

35. SISSE BRIMBERG

36. ~55+M
~350+M
Additional Analysis
pics shared on
Instagram per day
Creators
pics shared on
Facebook per day
Posting original photos and videos online has increased significantly in the past year. Half of internet
users post original photos online, while a quarter post videos they have taken themselves. Taken
together, 54% of internet users are online image “creators.”
Online Creators: Posting original photos and videos, 2012-2013
Among internet users, the % who post photos and videos and the % who post either
60%
50%
40%
54%
52%
~400+M
pics shared on
Snapchat per day
Do you ever post PHOTOS that you, yourself,
have taken to any kind of website?
Among all internet users, the % who share photos they have taken
themselves
46%
45%
All internet users (n=852)
52%
30%
a
20%
18%
10%
48
Women (n=438)
56
Post photos
Post videos
2012
2013
Source: Pew Research October Omnibus Survey, October 3-6, 2013. n=852 internet users ages
18+. Interviews were conducted in English on landline and cell phones. The margin of error for
results based on internet users is +/- 4.0 percentage points.
Online Curators: Sharing images and video from elsewhere
Among internet users, young adults ages 18-29 are particularly likely to post pictures they take online
on the web, 2012-2013
and women are more likely to do so than men. More than half of women do so, along with more than
Among internet users, the % who have reposted images and videos they found elsewhere
online and the % who repost both (curators)
three-quarters of young adults.
50%
47%
40%
42%
41%
36%
35%
pewinternet.org
0%
Share others' images
Share others' videos
2012
Curators
2013
Source: Pew Research October Omnibus Survey, October 3-6, 2013. n=852 internet users
ages 18+. Interviews were conducted in English on landline and cell phones. The margin of
error for results based on internet users is +/- 4.0 percentage points.
a
Men (n=414)
36
Women (n=438)
49
a
cd
a
18-29 (n=131)
61
d
37
b
30-49 (n=222)
48
d 65+ (n=208)
Education attainment
a High school grad or less (n=192)
b Some College (n=264)
c College + (n=391)
Household income
a Less than $30,000/yr (n=175)
19
c
50-64 (n=265)
30
$30,000-$49,999 (n=148)
$50,000-$74,999 (n=138)
$75,000+ (n=297)
48
53
54
30-49 (n=222)
c
50-64 (n=265)
d
10%
42%
Age
18-29 (n=131)
b
c
25%
20%
All internet users (n=852)
bcd
a
b
Creators
Among all internet users, the % who share photos they have found
elsewhere online
b
a
Age
0%
30%
Men (n=414)
b
26%
Do you ever take IMAGES you find online and share
or repost them on sites designed for sharing
images with many people?
79
56
49
54
53
d 65+ (n=208)
Education attainment
a High school grad or less (n=192)
b Some College (n=264)
c College + (n=391)
55
cd
d
Household income
Source: Pew Research October Omnibus Survey, October 3-6, 2013. n=852
internet users ages 18+. Interviews were conducted in English on landline and
4
cell phones. The margin of error for results based on internet users is +/- 4.0
percentage points.
a
Note: Percentages marked with a superscript letter (e.g., ) indicate a
statistically significant difference between that row and the row designated by
that superscript letter, among categories of each demographic characteristic
(e.g. age).
Reposting images is particularly popular among younger people and women are more likely to repost
images than men. Half of female internet users do so, along with six-in-ten of those26% ofusers ages
Some internet internet
18-29.
bcd
14
43
46
39
bd
a
Less than $30,000/yr (n=175)
b
$30,000-$49,999 (n=148)
31
c
$50,000-$74,999 (n=138)
46
d
$75,000+ (n=297)
39
52
b
Source: Pew Research October Omnibus Survey, October 3-6, 2013. n=852 internet
users ages 18+. Interviews were conducted in English on landline and cell phones.
The margin of error for results based on internet users is +/- 4.0 percentage points.
a
Note: Percentages marked with a superscript letter (e.g., ) indicate a statistically
significant difference between that row and the row designated by that superscript
letter, among categories of each demographic characteristic (e.g. age).
Reposting post their own
users post videos they take online, about half the proportion whovideos is most popular among internet users ages 18-29. More than half of these young ad

37. “Sharing photos and videos online adds texture,
play, and drama to people’s interactions in their
social networks,” said Pew Internet’s Maeve Duggan,
author of a report on the new findings. “Pictures
document life from a special angle, whether they
relate to small moments, personal milestones, or larger
news and events. Mobile connectivity has brought
these visuals into countless lives in real-time. This all
adds up to a new kind of collective digital
scrapbook with fresh forms of storytelling and
social bonding.”
Photo and Video Sharing Grow Online; Maeve Dugga, Pew Internet

38. plorers
explor
explorers
vators
innova
innovators
aphers
photog
photographers
makers
filmma
filmmakers
tellers
storyte
storytellers
amers
dreame
dreamers
doers
doers
scientists

39. (y)our journey
begins with
the first
step ...

44. ... continues
through the
power of story
...

45. The power of storytelling ...
1/ stories are meaningful
2/ stories are enjoyable
3/ stories are empowering
4/ stories are sociable

46. stories are
meaningful

47. The power of storytelling ...
1. Explain origins.
2. Define individual and group
identity.
3. Communicate tradition and
delineate taboo.
4. Simplify and provide
perspective; reduce complex
problems to a series of easily
digested principles.
5. Illustrate the natural order of
things.
!
7. Concisely communicate
complex history.
8. Communicate moral and ethical
positions and the transference
and preservation of values.
9. Illustrate relationships to, and
with, authority.
10. Describe appropriate responses
to life or model behaviors.
11. Define reward and detail the
paths to salvation and
damnation.
The 10 Functions of Storytelling, Ryan Mathews What’s Your Story?

50. stories are
enjoyable

51. “I don’t want to be coy or some type of jerk or be
withholding—it’s not a Machiavellian sort of thing—
it’s literally wanting people to have a good
time and to have a little bit of a surprising
time,” [J.J. Abrams] said. “So whenever I’m trying
to keep things quiet, it is 100 percent an effort to
make the experience of actually seeing the movie
or TV show more enjoyable for the viewers.”
Are Box Office Failures (Green Lantern, X-Men, Super 8) a Bad Sign for Cars 2?, Forbes, June 24, 2011

54. stories are
empowering

55. “Good stories entertain: great stories allow
people to discover themselves or some
hitherto hidden aspect of themselves.”
The 10 Functions of Storytelling, Ryan Mathews What’s Your Story?

56. The 10 Functions of Storytelling, Ryan Mathews What’s Your Story?

58. stories are
sociable

59. “In the end, storytelling comes down to two
things: connection and engagement. Whether
it’s a shaman relaying his vision around a sacred
fire, a tribal elder handing down his people’s oral
history, or a marketer pushing his or her newest
line extension or service, it all comes down to
these two fundamental elements.”
The 10 Functions of Storytelling, Ryan Mathews What’s Your Story?

60. The best photobomb of 2013 goes to this brave amphibian, who was
snapped midleap as a NASA spacecraft lifted off from Wallops Flight
Facility in Virginia on September 6. So why would a frog move from
lily pad to launch pad? Experts explained that the spaceport sits
among a wildlife refuge, and the launch pad has a pool for the water
deluge system that protects it from damage. (Chris Perry/NASA)
This inspiring image of double-amputee Marine Jesse Cottle being
carried by his wife, Kelly, was widely shared on Facebook. Jesse lost
his legs to an IED in Afghanistan in 2009, and met Kelly during his
recovery. Photographer Sarah Ledford hopes her portrait conveys
that "love sees no disabilities and marriage is a two-way street of
strength and devotion." (ShutterHappy Photography)

62. ... and bind us
together as
human beings.

63. people +
stories +
platforms =
#amazingness

64. Photos, and the use
of photography, aren’t
simply relegated to a
“photos” category,
but rather photos /
photography crosscuts categories and
provide a greater
opportunity for
engagement across
the sharing
economy. From
crowd wisdom to
match making and
shopping to locationbased discovery.

65. Snapchat

66. whisper

67. Jelly

68. Relay

69. Rando

70. tinder

71. PicCollage

72. Foap

73. Paper by Facebook

77. Six action items ...
1 / empower people to tell stories
2 / create action-based experiences
3 / build authentic relationships
4 / leverage the community
5 / get out of your comfort zone
6 / embrace failure, learn fast

78. Robert Michael Murray
facebook.com/robertmichaelmurray
linkedin.com/in/robertmichaelmurray
instagram.com/robertmichaelmurray
plus.google.com/robertmichaelmurray
robertmichaelmurray.com
twitter.com/rmmdc
Copyright 2014