Post by millerma on Oct 2, 2014 20:53:53 GMT -5
In my opinion the true standout for Doctor’s Without Border’s visual social media is the combination of depth and breadth of their visual content. As a truly international organization, with doctors working in the most desperate of situations all over the world, social media with depth and breadth of content does make a lot of sense but the way that they schedule and intermix the photos they have from in the field brings home the sense of Doctors Without Borders working truly on the international stage. Pictures may be worth a thousand words but, in my opinion, a picture on it’s own lets people come up with their own version of the story and that often leaves the real message of the photograph lost in translation.
As Nick discussed in the Google Hangout, you can tell that they work hard to connect the photos that they are posting to current events, providing a bridge from the western world and into the lives of the people that they are healing. Anyone talented photographer can take an excellent photograph and share it on social media and have the ‘wow!’ factor of having great visuals but what truly sets Doctors Without Borders apart is how they connect the dots of current events with a specific person that exemplifies the work that they’re doing. This deeper examination of the context in which the photos were taken makes the compelling photos of the people they’re serving feel more immediate and ‘real’ to a viewer who lives a life completely removed from the situations they may read or hear about. That sort of immediacy, or even sense of intimacy with the people in these countries, is exactly the kind of work that could turn a viewer into a supporter.
While the Instagram is wonderful and rich with content, the format does not entirely lend itself to the MSF visual PLUS context strategy. Pinterest epitomizes both the depth and the breadth of visual content on the Doctors Without Borders social media accounts. The beautifully organized, clearly labeled boards convey perfectly that MSF is an organization that does incredible difficult and important work in some of the most extreme places on the planet. That takes the social media up a notch from just conveying that they’re in those places to implicitly presenting MSF as an incredibly critical service run by incredibly dedicated and talented people. Again, this is exactly the sense of urgency and importance that turns people into supporters.
As Nick discussed in the Google Hangout, you can tell that they work hard to connect the photos that they are posting to current events, providing a bridge from the western world and into the lives of the people that they are healing. Anyone talented photographer can take an excellent photograph and share it on social media and have the ‘wow!’ factor of having great visuals but what truly sets Doctors Without Borders apart is how they connect the dots of current events with a specific person that exemplifies the work that they’re doing. This deeper examination of the context in which the photos were taken makes the compelling photos of the people they’re serving feel more immediate and ‘real’ to a viewer who lives a life completely removed from the situations they may read or hear about. That sort of immediacy, or even sense of intimacy with the people in these countries, is exactly the kind of work that could turn a viewer into a supporter.
While the Instagram is wonderful and rich with content, the format does not entirely lend itself to the MSF visual PLUS context strategy. Pinterest epitomizes both the depth and the breadth of visual content on the Doctors Without Borders social media accounts. The beautifully organized, clearly labeled boards convey perfectly that MSF is an organization that does incredible difficult and important work in some of the most extreme places on the planet. That takes the social media up a notch from just conveying that they’re in those places to implicitly presenting MSF as an incredibly critical service run by incredibly dedicated and talented people. Again, this is exactly the sense of urgency and importance that turns people into supporters.