There are thousands of common idioms about the power pictures. Worth a thousand words, tells a story, etc. And it is fairly clear that human beings are becoming increasingly visual. But the rise of sites that allow you to view and share photographs is disproportionate to the diminution of the average human’s attention span. So what is the driving force behind this sudden insatiable urge to share pictures? And why have the bigger, more widely recognised social networking sites not managed to keep up?

But is it art?

The is an important point that needs to be pointed out before we move forward with our investigation. The kind of images and work referred to here is more artistic in nature than the memes that seem to be taking over the world. While rage comics and invisible cat memes are getting shared and spread around the world at an incredible rate, they are more for amusement than anything else. This visual funnies have replaced emails with funny attachment, and undoubtedly have a cult following, but they are nothing more than fleeting giggles, bubblegum laughs for your mind to chew for a few seconds before you move on with whatever it is you are meant to be doing.

The real deal

The kind of sites referred to with the term visual network have something more to them than random memes. Sites like StumbleUpon, Tumblr, and Pinterest offer users a chance to showcase their beliefs, interests and personalities. Stunning pictures of faraway places, touching documented images, and genuinely artsy work are what you can expect here. And while there is the urge to just share something that is cool, people are using these sites to make a statement. But hang on for just a second, don’t Facebook and Twitter also allow you to share photos?

Something more

Twitter and Facebook are primarily used for uploading photos that are personal to you. Take a second to think about your own Facebook profiles – parties, family gatherings, meals, and that kind of thing are rife on the blue giant. And while you can share an incredible photo, you probably don’t do so very regularly, because your friends would get sick of you raping their feed, and because people can get to know you through your bio, details, status updates and so on. Pinterest and similar sites are giving users a chance to express themselves in a new way. There is an undoubtedly romantic sense of mystery about saying it all, or not, with a personal portfolio of pictures. The best way to think about the rise of these sites is that they allow people to capture the tiny facets of their personality through a visual collage.

The future

While it may seem slightly snobbish to express yourself in images alone, the rise of Instagram and photography in general amongst the young and tech savvy suggests that these sites are here to stay. So strike a pose and start getting creative.

Victoria Heckstall talks about a lot of different topics such as the simple website builder.

Victoria Heckstall talks about a lot of different topics such as the simple website builder.