Today sees the launch of Glopho, a unique online photo-sharing service designed specifically to allow anyone to “make the news” with the pictures they take. Now the millions of people with a camera in their pocket, budding amateur photographers or seasoned professionals can all share the moments they capture and the crowd can decide what is news.
The riots, the Royal procession or the dog on a skateboard; any photo can be easily and immediately shared via the Glopho website and mobile apps and then onwards through Facebook, Twitter or other social channels. Glopho is completely free to use and takes ‘citizen photo-journalism’ to new levels by introducing unique crowd-sourcing and news curation elements to photo-sharing.
Glopho is complementary to existing social networks. It allows everyone to easily share the pictures they take not just with their friends and family, but with the wider world. Users can follow their favourite photographers and their friends to see all the news they share, every day.
The Glopho website shows photos in a rolling format in simple category windows - Reality, Locality and Celebrity – alongside the Users’ Choice, Editor’s Choice and Latest images. Pictures carry the photographer’s own description to explain the ‘what, where and when’ and can be tagged to make them easy to find. Users can personalise their homepage to show their own photos and those of their friends, as well as the other photographers they follow.
Glopho apps are available in both iPhone and Android versions to make it even easier for people to post their pictures and enjoy looking at Glopho while on the go. Those using digital cameras rather than smartphones can upload their pictures via their computer or laptop.
Founder and CEO of Glopho, Simon Walker, said:
“I have believed for some time that we are all now news photographers and just need an easy and effective way to share with the outside world the pictures we take each day. News is happening all around us and, more than ever, we are well-equipped to capture those moments digitally. The explosion of social media has also given us, both as individuals and collectively, a bigger voice than ever. Glopho harnesses these phenomena and provides the perfect space to share what we witness and decide together what we call news.”
Glopho is the brainchild of award-winning photojournalist and picture editor Simon Walker, now founder and CEO of Glopho. The idea and the business he has created has been developed over the last two years. Thorough Beta testing has allowed iterative development and the creation of the current proposition which is launched fully to the public today. Further developments including new features and improved app usability are scheduled to be released over the next 2 months, with releases planned for every 2-3 weeks.
Glopho’s revenue model will see it earning money in two ways. Firstly, from advertisers paying to launch their own ‘premium galleries’, allowing them to get greater value from increasingly content-led social marketing strategies. Secondly, Glopho will take a share of the fees earned by photographers when pictures are sold to news and other outlets wanting to use any images from the site.
In its recent first round of funding, Glopho closed an SEIS-eligible round of £150k, corner-stoned by a London Business Angels Network syndicate, and joined by a number of other experienced private investors.
Glopho is run by a top flight management team of experienced senior professionals including founder Simon Walker (CEO), Erik Wenngren (Chairman), James Serjeant (CFO), Richard Ireland (CMO) and Karl Knoflach (CTO).