There is yet more evidence of the rise of visual material as an online traffic driver.

A Pew Internet survey, conducted at the start of August (link no longer available), highlights the rise of services such as Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr as internet users become adept at creating and curating non-text content.

The data comes from the US but is likely to reflect a trend that is more widespread.

The survey of 1,005 adults found:

• 46 per cent of adult internet users post original photos or videos online that they themselves have created.
• 41 per cent of adult internet users take photos or videos that they have found online and repost them on sites designed for sharing images with many people

…to use Pew’s words exactly.

The organisation calls those two camps ‘creators’ and ‘curators’.
It reckons over half of internet users in the US do at least one of those things while 32 per cent do both.

The Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project hadn’t previously asked about services such as Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr but ties their rise to the widespread use of smart-phones.

There are a bunch more stats in the report summary (link no longer available) but again this shows that those trying to reach an audience – media, marketers, bedroom bloggers et al – need to think beyond the written word.

That isn’t always easy. With plenty of subjects you end up creating visual content for its own sake. We have seen many a misplaced pinboard, infographic or “viral video”, for example. (Never say ‘Let’s create a viral video’!)

We’ll be bringing you more over coming weeks on blogging and alternative formats that are visually attractive as well as content-friendly. In the meantime, we’d love to hear your thoughts below.

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