Building Community Through Images

What is it about adding yourself to - or seeing yourself in - a block of people connected to other people connected to other people that makes those ties feel stronger?

Is simply the gesture of putting yourself in the company of others that does it for you? Or is it what we take from that gesture different with each of us?

I was updating my "friend block" at facebook last night and started wondering: Why and how does showcasing your community of readers, showing images of your network, creating a place to be seen create more of that feeling of belonging?

Would you rather remain impersonal and  distant from these people - or be part of the parade of images; in some way connected to a group, a blog, a neighborhood, a loosely or more tightly woven community of people?

Think of MyBlogLog and how it show a block of images of who's read your blog recently.

• It makes the blog owner feel good.
• It makes the reader feel good to be included.
• It makes the other readers happy to be in good company
  

Would something as simple as a frappr widget work the same way? Here's an experiment. Let's see . .

Would you feel differently about that string of photos if you - and people you know - were included?

Does it matter WHO the others are? Is it a matter of being seen with the RIGHT  people or is simply being seen enough?

For most of us, even if we don't know the answers to why it feels good to be connected - to be included in a certain image block or collage - it remains a fact that it does.

So where else could we link with images? Flicker groups are one option. But are there others? Where is your picture shown that you'd like to pass on to us? May we join you?

Note:

To be included in the frappr slide widget go to the map link, add yourself with an image you'll appear too.

To be included in the facebook friend block make a friend connection with me at facebook (dont forget to tell me how we know each other when you click connect)

Comments

[Kath]

My 2 cents is I would rather not have a picture and/or icon that shows when and where I visit. That's what stats are for.

It doesn't make me feel more of or less of a 'community'.

But that's just me :-)