The increasingly popular Fotolog website is becoming a battleground where high and low culture clash.
Fotolog is a relatively new weblog-cum-photo-gallery that allows anyone to post digital photos in chronological order. Thanks to the ability to link to, and comment on, others’ work, the site is rapidly building a large community of enthusiast snappers.
But like many new online societies, members with radically different ideas are waging a battle for its “soul.”
On one side are high-minded amateur photographers, who publish serious photography, which sometimes verges toward reportage or art. On the other are scores of teenage Brazilian girls posting saucy webcam portraits.
“There are some fabulous Brazilian photographers, some of the best in the community,” said Adam Seifer, one of the site’s co-founders. “But there are also a lot of kids with webcams taking photos of themselves.”
The battle between art and cheesecake came to a head last week when the site started charging its members for many posting privileges. The news that everything but the site’s most basic functions would cost $5 a month prompted scores of “protest” pictures, largely from the site’s nearly 3,000 Brazilian members.
The site was flooded with pictures titled “We won’t pay for it,” or “Fotolog Free,” and scores of angry comments.
“(The Brazilians) were the least understanding of the charges,” said Seifer. “They were responsible for a lot of the protest.”
Seifer didn’t know why Brazilians in particular were upset, but much of the speculation on the Fotolog site points to the weakness of Brazil’s currency against the dollar.
As of Monday, Brazilians are the largest geographic group on the site, with 3028 members. The U.S. contingent is just behind, with 3,005 members. The site has about 11,000 total members.
The battle between the Brazilian camgirls and the would-be Weegees was first noticed by Jake Dobkin, a contributor to Gothamist, a New York group weblog.
According to Dobkin, the high/low culture war is fueled by the way the site works.
On one side of Fotolog’s front page is a column of photos from six of the most recently updated galleries, and on the opposite side, the six most popular photos on the entire site.
In the last few weeks, the most popular photos typically have been the serious-minded kind. But the other column has been dominated by cheesecake from Brazil, according to Dobkin.
Dobkin is unsure whether the Brazilians’ dominance is because they simply outnumber serious photographers or because they post more often.
“Who will win this Titanic struggle for control of the soul of fotolog.net?” Dobkin writes. “Only time will tell, but there are some indications: Despite the fact that fotolog.net is based in Chelsea, there are more than 2,000 Fotolog sites in Brazil, and only 448 in New York.”
Internal battles to maintain the integrity of an online community have been waged many times. Slashdot, for example, introduced a system for rating readers’ comments in an attempt to cut down the trolls and flames that were choking the site. Likewise, MetaFilter cut off new members when rapid growth threatened to overwhelm the site.
According to technology pundit Clay Shirky, every community, virtual or not, goes through the same growing pains as new members not mindful of its customs come onboard.
To manage growth, Shirky notes that communities often impose rules or ban disruptive elements altogether.
However, Seifer said Fotolog has no such plans. He said he hopes to keep the site’s basic services free for one and all, and is confident that as it grows, mature photographic interests will win out.
Seifer noted that one of the most popular new pastimes on the site is the creation of group galleries dedicated to a particular theme, such as the color green, or Playmobil figures.
Seifer said as people learn to use the site, their photography becomes more sophisticated. At first, people post snaps of their cats or kids, but often graduate to photographing what’s around them.
Seifer noted that camera-equipped cell phones and pocket-size digital cameras make it very easy to document every aspect of someone’s life.
“They start to think of other ways of using their camera,” Seifer said.
Seifer keeps a daily photo log of almost everything he eats. The gallery attracts about 10,000 visitors a week. “People all over the world are interested in seeing what people like me eat every day,” he said. “People seem to be really interested in seeing how other people live.”
Seifer said his food log is a form of personal journalism, and noted that the entire site sometimes takes on a journalistic flavor. If there’s a big event, like a blizzard on the East Coast, or global peace protests, the site will witness a flurry of pictures documenting the incident.
“From time to time the site takes on a very journalistic slant,” he said. “Instead of birthday parties, people take pictures of these fleeting moments in their lives. They’re bookmarking these moments … and it has great appeal to people all over the world.”
