A Web 2.0 Case Study: photographik.org

I came across photographik.org a few months ago while doing some work for a client and wanted to share it as an example of a site using Web 2.0 concepts effectively. For those who are not familiar with the term, Web 2.0 refers to the recent collaborative and social networking revolution of the Internet. A more community-based approach to providing content and services has generated popularity in sites like Myspace, Facebook and del.icio.us, as well as services such as Skype, Google Maps and Flikr. While those web sites embody Web 2.0 at their very core, social bookmarking and other forms of web sharing can enhance an existing traditional web site format.


As an example of the latter, photographik.org is mainly a directory of wedding and portrait photographers. Web directories have been around forever so there's nothing ground-breaking with that idea. But photographik goes further than that in reaching its core audience by offering Blurbits - their catch phrase is "Don't blog it, Blurbit." It's a blog-type concept that gives members of their network an opportunity to offer information to other photographers and photography service seekers. Others can track Blurbit entries, search, view images and leave comments.

To go a step further, photographik has even implemented social bookmarking capabilities into each and every page created in the Blurbits community. So even if you're just a casual surfer looking for Vermont wedding photographers, you might find the Saint Phalle profile worth coming back to and bookmark it in your StumbleUpon or Digg profile.

New York wedding photographer Parris Whittingham utilizes the photographik concept to its fullest by linking to his web site, personal blog and Blurbit profile. He also has a slideshow of his past work.

Hopefully you're starting to get an idea of how powerful Web 2.0 concepts can be.

The main idea behind photographik.org is creating a place where people who are looking for elite wedding photographers, as well as portrait photographers, can scan the directory and choose one in their location. Dallas wedding photographers, San Francisco wedding photographers, Houston wedding photographers, Chicago wedding photographers and many more can have a true Web 2.0 web presence. This is the present (and the future) of communicating with your target market online.

Other methods of Web 2.0 functionality can include vlogs (video blogs), podcasts (audio media available via web feeds, download or streaming), online playlists (such as imeem.com and playlist.com) among a huge number of others. These concepts can be used across many different industries - the effectiveness just depends on what your visitors crave. And the possibilities really are endless.