Generation of Pinners With visual pinning sites such as Pinterest and Designspiration gaining more interest than established social networking sites for example you tube and facebook it is becoming evident that there is a growing trend for curating imagery and developing a visual dialogue online.
‘Pinterest is driving more brand traffic than the likes of you tube with over 76 million worldwide users’ Mintel, 2012
Social media in general is evolving and its purpose is changing from purely a platform that allows us to connect with others, to an interest-sharing hub where we can curate and express our passions. A post-digital generation that is network savvy and fearless of technological advancement is driving this trend, viewing the online world as place for self expression and unlimited experimentation. These digital natives are spending endless amounts of time on sites such as tumblr building their own unique world, applying themselves to assembling content and plugging their own creative work, opening it up to be shared or critiqued, ultimately in the bid to obtain creative work opportunities. Evidently high levels of uncertainty and unease are feelings that echo in today’s climate leaving people on a quest for identity, social media has essentially created a global community of storytellers, we feel encouraged to document our lives and thoughts online. For example instagram the image sharing app has over 27 million regular users worldwide (The Future Laboratory, 2012), allowing people to generate a visual archive of their lives.
Moodboard mania has taken hold and feelings of aspiration and status are being increasingly connected to what we can achieve and activities we are involved in people are becoming more conscious of their online reputations and how they are perceived by the ‘network’. Entrepreneurialism is an important factor, it is becoming more possible to market a small business successfully and to a wide audience from just a bedroom, with it proving more difficult to find stable employment individuals are becoming more inventive pursing more experimental avenues and adopting a ‘doing’ attitude. The future market will be abundant with these underground initiatives larger more established businesses will have to adapt to stay more nimble. At Microbubble we have recognised opportunity in this growing trend for curation and tumblring activity, we have noticed a gap in the market for the formation of a direct link between creative showtation and real world employment opportunities, we provide our network members with a platform to prototype ideas and the option of promoting creative project opportunities through direct conversation. Encouraging a bottom up revolution. At Microbubble we are inspired by micro-brands or single individuals that aspire to produce a macro impact, social media allows for the development of a creative identity allowing for that small niche business idea to have a vast impact and influence. ‘There’s is an appetite out there for new ideas and fresh ideas … technology is ubiquitous and with the rise of these pervasive networks it has become very possible with little money to produce scalable, global ideas.’ Paul Kemp-Robertson Contagious Magazine
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