A startup at the Ryerson University Digital Media Zone (DMZ) incubator in Toronto wants to reward you for your photos.
Thumble is a new photo sharing app that will be launching soon, and offers rewards for uploading your photos. While Cammi Pham, Thumble’s community manager, admits the “world doesn’t need another photo sharing app,” she says what makes Thumble different is that it’s also a social media loyalty program that “generates real social ads from real people for brands” they’re interacting with.
Here’s how she puts it:
“You walk into your favorite restaurant, order your dinner, take a picture, upload to Thumble, share with your friends on Facebook and Twitter, unlock a perk and redeem right away,” said Pham.
As they pitch it, customers get rewarded for doing what they’re doing already (uploading pictures of what they’re eating, for example) and businesses turn their customers into brand ambassadors within their social networks, helping to facilitate the best kind of marketing – word of mouth.
Thumble also brings in elements of gamification, letting users collect badges and share albums and collections with friends. It many ways, it’s Foursquare, but with photos. Another similar service is Lockerz, a Twitter-based photo sharing service that rewarded points for uploads that could be redeemed for products or discounts.