Parallels Between Digital Photography and Social Networking

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been taking some time to read through Donald Norman's "Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things". I came across an interesting passage that discussed our fondness for photographs and the role they play in our lives.

This discussion focused on many of the mundane tasks associated with the collection and maintenance of photographs which reminded me of the fledgling efforts of the SNS world and it's placement relative to individual's needs. It's quite clear that there are some striking parallels between our desire to capture and collect memories using photographs and our obsession with recruiting and recording our relationships using SNS.

For a little background, here's the passage that got me thinking:

One of the most precious resources of the modern household is time, and the effort to take care of all those wonderful photographs defeats their value. Even though taking photographs out of an envelope and organizing them in photograph albums is about as simple a way of doing this job as can be imagined, most people don't do it. I don't.

Digital cameras change the emphasis, but not the principle. It is relatively easy to take digital photographs, easy to share them from the display on the camera itself. It is more difficult to print the pictures or email them to friends and acquaintances. [...] With electronic pictures comes the problem of storing them in some way that you can find them again later.

Thus, although we like to look at photographs, we do not like to take the time to do the work required to maintain them and keep them accessible. The design challenge is to keep the virtues while removing the barriers: make it easier to store, send, share. Make it easier to find just the desired pictures years after they have been taken and put into storage.

Source: Donald Norman, "Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things"

It seems clear that from this brief look into our personal habits, we can also see this same effect in terms of the people we encounter. Let's consider the parallels from top to bottom.

Photographs, Like Contacts, Are Easy To Collect But Rarely Organized

As Norman quite accurately identifies, we tend to collect photographs by the roll but the small process of organizing them into a more accessible manner often escapes most of us. Likewise, individuals are generally very sociable and often discover and forge connections to new people. Ironically enough, the reasoning may be quite similar. As anyone who has sat in front of a pile of photographs, or a pile of business cards for that matter, often more than one avenue for organization becomes clear. This potential confusion, and a lack of ease in necessarily weighting one category over the other, can potentially lead to indecision and inaction. Perhaps there isn't enough value created in this "organization"?

Digital Cameras, Like Online SNS, Ease the Collection Process But Strain Traditional Sharing

It is obvious that we can not only take more pictures but we're much more inclined to take pictures at a wider array of situations with the advent of digital photography. Despite the ease of use of the new format, it lacks the quality, sentiment, and shear portability of its predecessor. Similarly, the onslaught of SNS applications and services has made it easier and easier to obtain new contacts in the world. Unfortunately, our new "relationships" are a far cry from the lasting relationships we've forged in the years previous -- not that say that there aren't their exceptions.

Photography and SNS Require Both Simplicity and Sentiment

The lesson to be learned from our eager attempts to digitize the world is that human attachment is a very intricate process; one not quickly or easily internalized, rationalized or otherwise rationalized. Although we have made numerous attempts to visualize those things which most puzzle us, it is clear that we still have much to overcome. Looking forward to SNS 2.0, perhaps a more practical and beneficial goal is to ease the process of locating the individuals we value first and foremost, and then consider the world at large.