Grapevine Consulting

I don’t come from a search marketing background but it’s something I like learning about right now as it so clearly crosses over into social media comms campaigns. Something else I like, is having misguided, tech dummy ideas about technology I think should exist or be invented. I’m going to create a new category for these posts called “Random Thoughts” so you can just skip through reading them, or, if you are a brand which has already invented this technology you can come and tell me about it.

So….I live in an area of London where there are a lot of tourists. Just walking to and from things in my area frequently puts me in the path of camera toting tourists and, although it demonstrates an intolerant part of my nature, I often don’t pause every metre so they get the perfect shot. Admittedly it’s not only recently I’ve developed this “outta the way tourists” attitude. Living in Rome, Bath and Wellington N.Z. during filming of Lord of the Rings may have finely tuned this approach.

But, I was thinking the other day “I wonder how many people have photos with me striding through the background?” Then I thought if I can Google my name and see how many people have mentioned me, why shouldn’t I be able to search for how many people have photographed me? There are probably a lot of places I’m captured on camera which I don’t know about, or where my friends haven’t told me they’ve posted the photos.

I’ve heard Blinkx has a search technology which examines video content along visual criteria like “blonde lady in a red top” so surely it’s only a matter of time before I can upload a pic of my face, it analyses the detail, and then shows me all the picture media in the world which features my mug?*

Many years ago a busload of Japanese tourists in the Wellington Botanical Gardens took pictures of me with 2yr old twins I nannied for. My own pictures of that time with those children were stolen; imagine if I could borrow theirs? Or even understand why they wanted to take photos of us at all?

*Just had a thought: find your doppelganger! Apparently I ski. I would love to see *her* fabulous life.

[Check out the identikit tourist behind me at The Trevi Fountain, Rome]