A core reason for the rise in photos shared online ‘Hot dog legs’ are one type of photographic 364 is the widening array of tools that enable and self-portrait, collectively known as selfies . These may encourage sharing. As of end-2015, there were over appear a contemporary activity, but demand has existed 2,000 photo-sharing apps available. for almost a century, with the automated photo-booth 365 originally addressing people’s needs . The first booth, Some tools encourage keeping images for posterity; installed in New York in 1925, had 280,000 customers others emphasize transience, for those who prefer it. 366 in its first six months . Photos can be shared with the whole world, or with selected individuals. Rising network speeds make it Increasing volumes of photos are being backed up easier to send bursts of images, quickly. because of the growing range of tools which enable this, at low or zero cost to the user. A user with multiple Posts with photos get 53 percent more ‘likes’, back-up services may end up creating a cloud-based 104 percent more comments, and 84 percent more copy of the same file multiple times. 362 click-throughs than text-only posts . The more fervent reaction to social network posts with photos is likely to The profusion of both sharing and back-up services encourage yet more posts with images. could lead to one photo being shared and backed-up hundreds of times. The growing ease of creating and sharing images is arguably shaping the way people communicate. For example parents may share the same photo of their The speed and quality with which we can take photos newborn with their individual social networks, as well encourages the photos and videos to be substituted as send to different groups via a set of instant message for spoken or written words. The message “having services. Some recipients of the image may forward it on a wonderful time on holiday” via a postcard or a phone to their own networks. If the receiving phone’s settings call is being usurped by photos captured and sent are configured to save each photo viewed, this device from a phone. The 2013 fashion of posting a photo would create an online back-up. of a tanned pair of legs – colloquially known as ‘hot dog legs’ – was a popular way of conveying that you were on vacation and that the sunshine had been 363 abundant . The ability to communicate in this way The more fervent reaction is driving usage of mobile data while abroad, and to social network posts with accentuating a differentiator for operators that offer low – or zero-cost roaming. photos may encourage yet more posts with images. 60