Shutting Off New User Registrations on stipple.com
Stipple is currently rolling out our Stipple for Business Platform and will no longer be accepting new registrations on stipple.com.
Current users will continue to have access to their Stipple accounts.
We appreciate your support and will continue to provide state of the art image solutions for both businesses and consumers. Stay tuned to Stipple via Facebook and Twitter for exciting news to come and, as always, contact us at [email protected] for more information.
You've been asking for it and we've delivered! Stipple now supports your Vine videos. Embedding is easy as adding any other tag. Simply paste in the Vine URL of your video and input a title. Stipple takes care of the rest.
Be sure to share your Stippled Vines on Twitter and tag us @stipple. We would love to see what you are creating!
By Casey McCallister
In the past, Stipple has had no way of alerting a user that they are mentioned on an image - until now! Last week, Stipple launched user-tagging. Now you can let other Stipple users know when you're mentioning them on a Stippled photo.
To use, simply begin my typing the @ symbol (shift + 2 on your keyboard), then continue by typing the name of the user you wish to tag. Stipple will begin to populate a list of possible suggestions as you continue to type. Choose the username you wish to tag and it will become a link.
User tagging is supported in all caption and comment fields.
For questions on how to use, email us at [email protected] any time.
Here at Stipple, we’ve been fascinated with this year’s Sochi winter Olympics, for a chance to watch stellar athleticism in a country faced with the shadow doubt about it’s infrastructure and capability to host such an event. Valdimir Putin spent a whopping $51m to build a glistening ski resort and several sports venues from scratch. In the two weeks that ensued, we witnessed triumphs and falls by the world’s most skilled athletes in winter sport. US snowboarder Sage Kotsenburg won the first gold of the games with his triumph in the men’s snowboard slopestyle. Or who can forget US figure skater Ashley Wagner’s displeasure about the score she had received in the team figure skating event (there have since been many Internet memes made about it). We’ve curated a set of images to highlight some of Sochi’s most memorable moments, so touch the images below to learn more about each photograph.
In the vast world of mobile, Stipple’s iOS app stands out with it’s platform for creating the interactive image. It’s cleanly designed, intuitive and responsive to the updates from the Stipple desktop. While out on the go, you have the ability to tell a story through your image, adding photos, video, and even Facebook and Twitter profiles. You can also view stats on all of your images directly from your mobile iPhone or iPad, which includes image views, engagements, likes and shares, keeping you connected to your images at all times. In a snap, you can also Facebook or Tweet your photo story to share with the world. For those of you who have just downloaded the mobile Stipple iOS app, we’ve put together a short tutorial on how to use all of the awesome features. Mouse over the screenshots of the mobile app below for descriptions of how to create a Stippled photo story using your iOS device.
Above: This is the first step to starting a Stipple photo story. You have the option to photograph one directly through the Stipple app (which in this case you can add video) or you can choose images from your camera roll. I decided to create my photo story from some of the images that I took with my iPhone while on a photoshoot for Gilt SF in Sonoma at Spoon Bar. With your finger, click on the images in the order in which you want them to appear. You can also delete images from your photo story by clicking on them again, and the order number will disappear. Mouse over the image above to learn more about adding photos and the video function.
Above: This screenshot shows you the options you have besides adding your own personal photos and video. Here, if you click on any of the icons above, you can add a Facebook profile or business page, a Twitter profile, a Wikipedia link or a Youtube Video.
Above: I add captions to my photos, especially since the mobile app allows for the use of the hashtag, similar to the hashtag on the Stipple desktop. This way it's easier to track of the photos you upload, as your images can be organized into channels. As a photographer, I tend to hashtag my images with #photoshoot or #photography so I can follow these channels and not lose track of my work.
Above: Once you have decided on all of the elements you want to add to your photo to tell the story and you upload, this is your final image within your iOS app. Here you can see that I added four additional photos to the primary photo to show off the delectible tastes of Michelin-ranked Spoon Bar.
Above: This screenshot shows the stats of my image. As you can see, in the last hour since I uploaded it to my iPhone, I got 28 view, 40 engagements, 0 likes and 2 shares. That's a pretty good turnout for such a short period of time. As the images is shared via social media, these numbers will continue to rise, and you can watch and manage the stats all on your iOS mobile device.
Below: This is how your image appears on your Stipple desktop once you have uploaded a mobile image through your iOs device.
Photographer Dan Carr Showcases Olympic Photographer's Gear
By Casey McCallister
Stipple always encourages creative uses, of our platform and photographer Dan Carr has found one of the most innovative uses yet.
The 2014 Winter Olympics are upon us, and photographers from all over the globe are gathering in Sochi to cover the events. Dan has interviewed a few of the top photographers at the games, including in the posts Stippled photographs of their gear showcasing the individual pieces. As a photographer myself, I learned a lot from the interviews of what exactly is involved with photographing such a huge event
Take a look at Dan's interviews with Streeter Lecka, Leon Neal, and Jed Jacobsohn to hear the detail and planning that goes into photographing the world’s biggest sports ceremony.
See all the interviews on Shutter Muse here: http://shuttermuse.com/tag/olympics
We've started this year out with a bang at Stipple. With loads of beautiful images rolling in from photographers, we're feeling the love. Check out the photo board below, which varies from landscape to portraiture to music photography. Touch the images get their stories.
It's a little known feature, but worth pointing out that Stipple actually supports GIFs - both in main images and in dots! GIFs have come a long way since the annoying days of MySpace, so use them on your Stipple profile to provide a new perspective to your projects.
Here is a small collection of GIF's uploaded in the past few months that Stipple has found entertaining:
The hashtag is an international symbol. Ironically, it first came into practice on Twitter during the 2009-1010 Iranian election protests. Within a few short years, hashtags saturated the Internet and it’s now a common practice across all social media platforms. Despite this and amidst a handful of spoofs that have been made about the symbol, the hashtag has maintained a stronghold on how we organize our social media lives. But for a good laugh about hashtags, touch the image below to watch Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
Within Stipple, the hashtag can be a valuable tool. If you incorporate the use of the hashtag into your photo captions, they highlight in blue. When you click on them, you’re given the option to “WATCH” the hashtag topics, which are then organized into what Stipple calls “Channels”. In the photo below, when I clicked on the #celebrity hashtag on the JT image, Stipple showed me all of the images hashtagged with #celebrity. I then clicked "WATCH" in the upper righthand corner and the #celebrity hashtag appeared in my Channels list.
The channels, similar to trending topics in Twitter, are found highlighted in red on the left side of your Stipple profile, as seen in the example below on my profile. I am watching a fair amount of channels, and as a content creator, the hashtags and channels help me organize my images. For a deeper look at the channels you are watching, click on the “Explore” pull-down menu.
Also when you Tweet or Facebook an image directly from Stipple, your caption and hashtags automatically appear in the post. This way you can quickly send out your interactive image to your social media outlets without any additional tagging. Give it a try! It’s pretty intuitive! If you have any questions about the Stipple "Channels" feature, don't hesitate to contact our Stipple Support on Twitter.
E-commerce sales are expected to top $1.4 trillion globally in 2014.1 To put that in perspective, global e-commerce sales in 2014 will be equivalent to over 3 Black Friday’s everyday (Black Friday is the massive US blockbuster sales day after Thanksgiving)!2 The e-commerce opportunity is mind-boggling, but so is the competition. So how do you break through the clutter? By playing to your strengths - images across the web! No other medium conveys as much information and as quickly as a photo.
Consumers viewing photos related to your products have self-identified themselves as interested in your brand. Think for a moment, who is more likely to purchase from you – a consumer passively served your ad outside of their field of vision or a consumer choosing to view photos related to your brand? Your ROI is infinitely higher by engaging your audience through photos, so why wouldn’t you leverage the opportunity?
If you’re ready to drive revenue through photos please contact us to learn more.
Below is a sample of innovative ways brands are using Stipple to turn photos into storefronts.
2 comScore, Black Friday Billions: $1.2 Billion in Desktop E-Commerce Spending Marks First Billion-Dollar Online Shopping Day of the 2013 Holiday Season
Stipple's SOMA office is filled with many skilled ping pong players. Last Tuesday afternoon, the smack talking reached an apex and it was decided to kick off an inagural inner-office ping pong tournament. Many tight matches followed, and Joey, Stipple's CRO, defeated Mike Carey in the final match crowning him the first champion.
Stipple's photographers took pictures of the whole event, including some post match portraits. What better way to spend a lunch hour at work!?
Creating and curating content on the web has become the norm. Food blogging, fashion, design and art, to name a few have spawned influential and compelling content. At Stipple, we’ve focused on giving publishers the tools they need without interrupting their workflow. By incorporating a few lines of HTML code once, publishers with a click of a button can create interactive images in-context from their website.
Say you’re blogging for a lifestyle magazine, which I do called Live Fast Mag. We often post our favorite Lookbooks highlighting fashion trends. Using Stipple we link to products and the brands’ Facebook page, highlight videos and add any other pertinent info without leaving the Live Fast Mag site. It’s super easy and really engaging - visitors explore additional relevant content from within the Lookbook.
The picture above is of a studio visit I did with SF-based artist Casey Gray and highlights the ease of creating an interactive image. I created the full image experience directly from within the post, which is helpful because I could see the photo and layout while adding the interactive content. Stipple’s image recognition technology also enables image tags to automatically appear on photos within Live Fast Mag that were created within the user interface on Stipple.com. Enhancing photos and posts without wasting time is an incredibly valuable asset for any content creator.
Another advantage of incorporating the few lines of Stipple HTML into your blog is the ability to claim copyright for your content. I occasionally submit photo boards of my work, like this one about Lake Tahoe. With Stipple I was able to claim the images as my own, so every time the content is reblogged, stumbled or pinned, my copyright info is displayed. As a photographer, the attribution problem is solved.
I find that incorporating Stipple into my everyday blogging is a win-win. I make my images more engaging and sell products without ever leaving my blog’s interface, and learn which sites are using my content. It’s a superior, clean solution for adding value to my images and blogs. To check out another perspective on using Stipple from the Editor of Live Fast Mag visit her post.
Today Stipple is releasing an enhanced search experience to help images be more easily discovered. Image searches will now take into account more image information. For example, image tags contain additional relevant information about the photo, and by including them in image searches results will be more relevant. Touch the image for an example.
Visit Stipple to explore new photos and let us know what you think.
The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas is in full swing. The show attracts the world’s top consumer electronic brands and those aspiring to be one. This year’s show is huge: 3,200+ exhibitors, 300+ sessions and 152,000+ attendees from over 150 countries.
Let’s be honest, it’s a total zoo.
But in the chaos you’ll find super cool gadgets, such as drones and Minority Report-like bathroom mirrors, that give us a glimpse of tomorrow’s technology today. Stipple is at CES helping showcase the brands you know and love, and those that are flying under the radar. Check out the CES 2014 Gallery to see the latest in TV’s, cameras, drones, cars, gaming and more. Come back daily to see the latest. Enjoy!
As we speed into 2014 we’d like to give a final nod to the year we just left behind. Stipple is a global community, so what better way than to explore New Year’s Eve photos from across the world? Check out curated images for 2014 event listings, the biggest and best parties and interactive maps for the most spectacular locations to catch fireworks.
Thank you for a fantastic 2013 and we look forward to sharing another great year with you. Happy New Year!
Somehow the holiday season always creeps up on us, and then it’s over in a flash. For some spirited fun and to help you explore Stipple’s new interface, we’ve curated a collection of holiday images. The diverse variety of the content is intentional; we want you to experience all the ways Stipple is bringing photos to life. Plus with the vast selection of holiday content on the internet, from food to Do-It-Yourself, from art to music, there’s a little something for everyone.
Make some snowflake sugar cookies with Plated blog, get some photo inspiration for holiday decorating from Home Brunch blog, all the while listening to the new Bad Religion Christmas release. You’ll find all that and more. Season’s Greetings from the Stipple team!
We’re thrilled to introduce a major Stipple redesign in time for the holidays. In a word, it’s all about simplicity – making things better with less. The new experience delivers a cleaner interface with more intuitive navigation. We also took advantage to add some new, exciting features we hope you’ll like:
Images – bigger, bolder photos
Channels – hashtag topics which you can follow (e.g., the ability to follow #sunset)
Editing – batch editing to help you better manage your photos
Reporting – redesigned dashboard so you can better track image interactions
Dive in today and experience the new Stipple.
We’d love your feedback so please reach out to us with your questions and comments.
Happy Holidays!
Below is an overview of latest and greatest.
Streamlined Navigation
The new navigation is based on two simple, drop-down menus that quickly get you to the right place. Check out the new "Channels" feed, which allows you to view and follow hashtag topics (i.e., #sunset).
Channels
Stipple introduces an industry-first, the ability to not only search, but also follow hashtag topics.
Profile
Among other things Profile introduces a new batch editing feature to better manage your photos.
Reporting
The reporting dashboard underwent a complete overhaul. It's now easier to read and gives you the granularity you need to understand how people are interacting with your photos across the web.
Like what you see? Check out the new Stipple today.
