Author Topic: What Are Buyers Looking For? Follow @ShutterstockReq on Twitter to Find Out (Read 5997 times)

scottbraut · « **on:** June 06, 2012, 21:10 »

Hello,

Contributors often ask what kind of content we’re looking for, so to make it easy, we’ve created a Twitter feed to answer exactly that question. We’ll be tweeting out specific content needs (for photos, video and illustrations) as they come in, and the rest is up to you. Visit this link to follow @ShutterstockReq. (Tip: Even if you don’t have Twitter, you can check the page periodically to find out what we’re looking for.)

Twitter feed:
https://twitter.com/shutterstockreq

More details:
http://www.shutterstock.com/buzz/what-content-are-we-looking-for-follow-shutterstockreq-on-twitter-to-find-out

Best Regards,

Scott
VP of Content
Shutterstock
@shutterstock
@shutterstockreq
@scottbraut

ruxpriencdiam · « **Reply #1 on:** June 06, 2012, 22:21 »

Quote from: scottbraut on June 06, 2012, 21:10

Hello,

Contributors often ask what kind of content we’re looking for, so to make it easy, we’ve created a Twitter feed to answer exactly that question. We’ll be tweeting out specific content needs (for photos, video and illustrations) as they come in, and the rest is up to you. Visit this link to follow @ShutterstockReq. (Tip: Even if you don’t have Twitter, you can check the page periodically to find out what we’re looking for.)

Twitter feed:
https://twitter.com/shutterstockreq

More details:
http://www.shutterstock.com/buzz/what-content-are-we-looking-for-follow-shutterstockreq-on-twitter-to-find-out

Best Regards,

Scott
VP of Content
Shutterstock
@shutterstock
@shutterstockreq
@scottbraut

So then you can now remove the!

Photo Requests
Designer requests for images

Forum and make it a Pimp it if you have it Forum?

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #2 on:** June 07, 2012, 01:18 »

Scott - that's a great idea. Thanks for posting the info here too.

It's early days yet, but it seems it's a mix of suggestions from SS - show us how you celebrate occasions locally - and customer requests - Brazilian culture & everyday life. I would hope we could keep this info very specific and customer focused so it's something we can act on. Local celebrations for "Christmas to Carnaval" is very general, and perhaps a better topic for a blog post where you could expand a bit more on what you're looking for.

scottbraut · « **Reply #3 on:** June 07, 2012, 06:00 »

Hello,

The feed will likely grow to be a mix of specific and broad requests.

Often, a customer will come to us and say, "you know, I was working on a project on Brazilian travel last month and noticed that you don't have a lot of local culture. Many of my projects need authentic-looking photos that show Brazilians in business or at leisure. If you had that in the future, I'm sure I'd be able to download more images."

Other times, the request might be, "I need six children on a single team in blue shirts."

And more often than that, the request might be very broad -- but important -- "we need images that show authentic-looking lifestyles...nothing too 'stocky.'"

Our goal is to mix these up to give you not only a sense of what specific items customers will be looking for, but also a sense of broad categories that have a high likelihood of getting downloads in the future.

We'll mix it up.

As with anything, this should also mature and grow over time and feedback is always helpful. Our ultimate goal is to create a connection between contributors and customer requests, as well as our own analysis of gaps in the collection.

Best,

Scott

rubyroo · « **Reply #4 on:** June 07, 2012, 06:08 »

This is wonderful. I've been hoping for this kind of direction from agencies for a long time, and it's great to see it. Great for contributors and buyers alike, and I look forward to seeing it grow and evolve. Thank you so much

sarah2 · « **Reply #5 on:** June 07, 2012, 08:17 »

Hope it's not JUST on Twitter so us less tekkie people have a chance of getting this info too....
?

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #6 on:** June 07, 2012, 10:46 »

Quote from: sarah2 on June 07, 2012, 08:17

Hope it's not JUST on Twitter so us less tekkie people have a chance of getting this info too....
?

If you can read this forum, you can read their information on Twitter - no special anything required on your part beyond bookmarking the link Scott provided

leaf · « **Reply #7 on:** June 07, 2012, 11:11 »

I've also added it to the twitter feed on the font page of the site. thanks for the heads up Scott.

antistock · « **Reply #8 on:** June 07, 2012, 20:54 »

hmm ... it reminds me of the emails from Photographers Direct....

ShadySue · « **Reply #9 on:** June 08, 2012, 04:55 »

Didn't SS used to have some sort of request thing on their forum? I mean away back in 2006.
I remember when I was just looking into and thinking about submitting to micros, and was looking at the different agencies, I'm sure it was SS I saw some very specific and very expensive-sounding requests.
One in particular I remember was very, very specific about an exact mixed-race ethnicity and age of model and particular costume, props and set up.
Someone actually went to the trouble of setting the whole thing up as requested, with IMO a handsome model, and the OP said, "Sorry, I don't care for the look of your model. Could you do it again with another model?"
I remember thinking - what? At the price you'd pay/the tog would get on SS? Get real!
I didn't know anything back then, and it may be that the tog has sold many licenses on that image since; but it was so specific that I doubt it.
However, it still amuses me if I see Getty-type requests at micro prices, for very specific shots.
Added: it might be worth it if there were some sort of enhanced payment guaranteed, but I think iStock used to do that, and it didn't work very well. I think they stopped it around the time I started there.
On the iStock request forum, I often see requests that people fulfil, then the OP says, "we're going in a different direction with this one" or you never hear from them again. I used to track this occasionally just out of interest, and the number of people who had fulfilled a request, yet the file had 0 dls after a couple of months was very discouraging.

sarah2 · « **Reply #10 on:** June 10, 2012, 00:52 »

Thanks jsnover. I had no idea................!!!!!!!!!!!

ShadySue · « **Reply #11 on:** June 10, 2012, 05:18 »

Interestingly, I know some of these wants are available on iStock. Without even looking, I know that Sean has an exensive set, old and very new of 'first day at school' type pics, so long as it needs to be American-looking (single-decker yellow bus, no school uniform). Unhelpfully, the requester hasn't specified - clearly American pics would be useless in the UK and vice versa.

sarah2 · « **Reply #12 on:** June 13, 2012, 01:40 »

OK - I know I am decades behind many of you in technology - but if I see a request for something I have/can do, how do I let the requester know? With the old forum system you just posted it there.....
Do I have to JOIN Twitter? Can't say I'm keen on this. Tried Facebook once - really scary!!!!!!!

A Dinosaur.

suemack · « **Reply #13 on:** June 13, 2012, 03:47 »

Thanks Scott, useful information.

wut · « **Reply #14 on:** June 13, 2012, 04:04 »

Quote from: ShadySue on June 08, 2012, 04:55

Didn't SS used to have some sort of request thing on their forum? I mean away back in 2006.
I remember when I was just looking into and thinking about submitting to micros, and was looking at the different agencies, I'm sure it was SS I saw some very specific and very expensive-sounding requests.
One in particular I remember was very, very specific about an exact mixed-race ethnicity and age of model and particular costume, props and set up.
Someone actually went to the trouble of setting the whole thing up as requested, with IMO a handsome model, and the OP said, "Sorry, I don't care for the look of your model. Could you do it again with another model?"
I remember thinking - what? At the price you'd pay/the tog would get on SS? Get real!
I didn't know anything back then, and it may be that the tog has sold many licenses on that image since; but it was so specific that I doubt it.
However, it still amuses me if I see Getty-type requests at micro prices, for very specific shots.
Added: it might be worth it if there were some sort of enhanced payment guaranteed, but I think iStock used to do that, and it didn't work very well. I think they stopped it around the time I started there.
On the iStock request forum, I often see requests that people fulfil, then the OP says, "we're going in a different direction with this one" or you never hear from them again. I used to track this occasionally just out of interest, and the number of people who had fulfilled a request, yet the file had 0 dls after a couple of months was very discouraging.

+1

I couldn't agree more, requests at micro prices? Get real

. And as ShadySue said, there's no guarantee whatsoever they'll even buy it. Those requests should be EL only and even then it doesn't pay out to do it if it's not something rather simple to shoot (but you have tons of that in the library) and because it's usually specific, they should buy at least 15 ELs to make it worth doing it.

gillian vann · « **Reply #15 on:** June 13, 2012, 23:37 »

Quote from: sarah2 on June 07, 2012, 08:17

Hope it's not JUST on Twitter so us less tekkie people have a chance of getting this info too....
?

and ugh, for those of us who find twitter to be cringeworthy narcissism... *sigh* so I'm now the 203rd follower.

oxman · « **Reply #16 on:** June 14, 2012, 01:50 »

Looking at those tweets on the Twitter feed, it feels like 80% of those photo subject requests are MORE than covered. That is often the case with the iStock Request Forum.

It becomes apparent that the requester has not spent time effectively searching or lacks the knowledge of doing so.

pancaketom · « **Reply #17 on:** June 14, 2012, 12:16 »

Quote from: oxman on June 14, 2012, 01:50

Looking at those tweets on the Twitter feed, it feels like 80% of those photo subject requests are MORE than covered. That is often the case with the iStock Request Forum.

It becomes apparent that the requester has not spent time effectively searching or lacks the knowledge of doing so.

I got the same feeling.

Also didn't SS just say they wouldn't take public domain stuff anymore, which means if you want to upload maps like requested, you have to make it yourself, which seems a bit beyond the microstock scope to me, although if they actually got rid of all the PD maps it might be worth the effort.

djpadavona · « **Reply #18 on:** June 21, 2012, 10:43 »

Not to be a wet blanket, but I wonder how confidently we can extrapolate 1 or 2 requests for a specific image to being a much needed concept? It's a great start though.

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Author Topic: What Are Buyers Looking For? Follow @ShutterstockReq on Twitter to Find Out (Read 5997 times)

scottbraut

ruxpriencdiam

Jo Ann Snover

scottbraut

rubyroo

sarah2

Jo Ann Snover

leaf

antistock

ShadySue

sarah2

ShadySue

sarah2

suemack

wut

gillian vann

oxman

pancaketom

djpadavona

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