Sharing Pics and Videos

Ben Evans pulls some stats on the photos being shared via social networks:
“Over 1.5bn new photos are shared every day on Facebook, WhatsApp and Snapchat alone, which equates to about 550bn a year…Total sharing across all social networks, if we include Wechat and other platforms, is certain to be over 1 trillion this year.”
Wow!

Nick Confalone wrote this very funny article describing his stay-at-home-dad experience with Vine, the video sharing app that restricts each video to just 6 seconds. It started off as fun, something to kill time:
“My set would be our house. My supporting cast would be stuffed animals, a plastic giraffe named Sophie, and a 25-pound cat. My star, my muse, and my co-director would be my 3-month-old son.”
The videos soon became popular. Among the reasons for his popularity:
“Mom friends told me part of our appeal came from seeing what Dad does with the baby when Mom’s not around. I let him lick money (oops); I propped him up, but he fell over (oops); I let him suck on a peanut butter jar lid (oops).”
The Internet proclaimed Confalone to be a Good Dad:
“Vine commenters unanimously agreed that I was great with my son. Sure, the cultural bar for competent fathers is so low you could trip over it.”
As his online followers increased, companies started approaching him:
“Use a Popsicle as a main character? If you say so! Play the ukulele while the kid wears Gap clothes? Sounds good! Get into Disneyland for free? Only because you’re twisting my arm.”
Alas! Soon the baby got “older, fussier, and harder to bend to my directorial will”:
“Take 1: baby not looking at camera. Take 2: wardrobe malfunction. Take 3: spit-up. Take 4: not good. Take 5: worse. Take 6: awful. Take 7: Seriously, what is wrong with this baby?! Take 8: Please, smile. Take 9: I mean honestly, babies smile all the time. Take 10: Just smile. Take 11: COME ON!!! Take 12: “I’m not mad anymore, I’m just disappointed.” Take 13: I’m a little mad still.”
(I can so relate to this feeling with my daughter as she has gotten older).

And then Confalone realized what had happened:
“I couldn’t pretend my Vines were about having fun with my kid anymore. I had become a Skinner rat, refreshing posts every 10 seconds to check for more “likes.” And it didn’t matter if I was making them for myself or for somebody else. I was forcing him to do what I wanted.”
And so he stepped back:
“I only pitch ideas I know we can do organically, based on what he’s interested in at the time, like recording him seeing the simple beauty of a puddle in the backyard that splashes the palm of his tiny hand on a hot day, or sticking his fingers in power outlets.”
And so now his videos are made to “look back on my son’s first year of life”.

The prodigal dad had returned.

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