The Future of Photo Sharing

How will people be sharing in 2030? We think we know: A look into TimeSpring’s data shows some surprising facts about how people are sharing today, and how they will be sharing in the future.

With Instagram reporting numbers of 800 million monthly active users, and Snapchat’s post-IPO boasting 3 billion+ snaps per day, it’s safe to say that sharing what you’re doing in the present moment is a trend that’s here to stay. Striving to help people connect, these companies have paved the way for new forms of communication all of which are in the realm of real-time sharing. While Snapchat provides more ephemeral sharing, in which snaps only last for a matter of seconds, Facebook continues to launch features like Messenger Day, WhatsApp status, Facebook Stories, and advancements in live streaming: it begs the question: What will be the next new way to share?

Although sharing in real-time is a crucial part of daily lives, future-sharing is, well, the future. Passing down photos and memories has long been a part of the human experience; yet, surprisingly, there’s been little technological advancement to make sending a message to the future possible. Before TimeSpring, sending a message forward was only the stuff of our favorite literature and movies #TheDeLorian.

Time-released messaging, pioneered by TimeSpring, Inc., enables people to share with anyone at any age, including children, years into the future, and even beyond their lifespan. Parents and grandparents can create accounts for children too young for e-mail and send a photo or video with a message and have it scheduled to be delivered when the child is old enough to understand. That’s exactly how TimeSpring users are behaving; they are sending future messages to be unlocked not just five years from now, but 10 and 20 years into the future. A reported 52% of TimeSpring users, send messages between 10-20 years into the future, while and the average TimeSpring user creates 1.5 child accounts. It seems given the opportunity, people want to communicate their stories in the future, especially for their children.

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Year distribution of pending TimeSpring messages 2/16/2018.

When and with whom you share are no longer limited by time, age, or death. TimeSpring encourages posthumous sharing in which people can share beyond their lifetime. When commenting about messages being delivered posthumously, founder Felice Bernard says, “Communication doesn’t have to be severed between the people we love when someone passes. Life, can be very unpredictable, but technology is not, a scheduled message stays a scheduled message whether you’re here or departed.”

Bernard continues, “What most excites me, is when the sleeping child accounts that are being created everyday are activated. When the 5-year, 10-year, and 20-year messages are delivered, I can only imagine how special those messages will be for those lucky recipients.”

Since hitting app stores in November 2017, TimeSpring will be launching new features this year, and invite users to provide any feedback that can improve the app. You can install TimeSpring for free in Google Play store and Apple store and follow TimeSpring’s activity on Facebook.