Instagram Photo-Journalism
Two posts on the Instagram blog make me think that what Twitter did for journalism, Instagram might do for photo-journalism. The first post shows a collection of photos documenting the New York City marathon two weekends ago. The second post shows a collection of photos documenting the Occupy Wall Street eviction in New York City earlier this week. All of these photos were shot by ordinary people on an iPhone, but the collective story that these sets of photos tell is nothing short of incredible.
The marathon spanned 26 miles of the city, spreading from corner to corner of a giant metropolis. But every Instagram user was given a voice to express her individual perspective and tell the story of what happened on his block or from where she was standing. These unique views got collected together through a common hashtag, allowing the world to feast on the beautiful aggregate.
The Occupy Wall Street eviction was a contentious event, to say the least. The police made it very difficult for the press and photographers to document the event, but ordinary people with iPhones were able to capture what unfolded and were able to communicate the tone of what it was like to be there. When citizen journalists are equipped with a powerful creation and distribution tool like Instagram, it’s impossible to censor the collective effort.
These two events both happened in New York City, but similar news-worthy events are happening all the time. As the Instagram community continues to grow, the collective power of it’s users will grow with it. And as the density of users in other communities rises to that of New York City, it will be possible to receive aggregated accounts of events from all over the world. That’s why I’m a huge fan Instagram and can’t wait to see all the stories it helps its users tell.
