I was going through the VC interaction posted by Everpix guys. If you go through the letters, you see this repeated a lot, “You guys are in a crowded space which the biggies(Facebook, Dropbox, Google, Apple, etc) are after”. Everpix is/was a service to store and organize photos. Why is this such a hot space?
Take a peek at the acquisitions carried out by Facebook. Can you spot a pattern? A common recurring theme around these companies is photo sharing, image recognition, mobile and analytics. As mobile devices/digital cameras become ubiquitous, internet connectivity becomes omnipresent, people are going to upload snaps/videos in ever increasing numbers. Photos/videos reveal a lot about you without you consciously intending to. A stream of photos that you upload on a regular basis is as good as a life journal that you are not explicitly writing. How about mining this information to show relevant ads?
Your photo reveals that you wear spectacles, show eye wear ads to you. Your photo stream shows that you regularly take overseas vacation, you are a hot target for the travel industry. Your photos suggest that you have an entry level car and you tell Facebook that you got a new job, time to show the next segment car ads in your wall? In most of the photos you wear denim and t-shirt, maybe Levi’s would be very interested in you.
Think about it, the amount of information a stream of photo gives out about you is endless. This is a gold mine for companies that want to tailor ads for you.
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