The Internet has been called many things, but I am sure that “ultimate time waster” will be at the top of the most frequently used adjectives for this wonderful thing that can make anyone an expert with some clicking and a few hours of reading. Then again, what is wasted time for one person may very well be a brilliant learning experience for another. It’s all in the perspective, yes?
And if you are the type who believes that experiencing beauty is a worthwhile experience no matter what, you will not mind wasting your time on “This Is Now”, a web site that jumps into the Instagram bandwagon, but in a way that goes beyond what others have done.
Basically, This Is Now taps into the collection of photos uploaded to Instagram, but it does so by looking at specific cities. It then shares these as a stream of photos, which are uploaded in real time. It’s like seeing the cities in photos as things happen. For example, here’s what London “looks like” as I write this post.
Obviously, you might see photos that may not be to your liking. The guys at This Is Now say that the system “was built with love using the extraordinary combination of Node.js + Socket.io and the real-time photo updates from the Instagram API based on geolocation.” I guess they do not use filters other than the location indicated by the photos uploaded. In any case, I find it an interesting way to experience real life virtually. ((You see what I did there?))
If you’re into stats, you might find this interesting as well.
So far, 169934 photos have been seen and 78924 photos have been clicked through London-now, by a total of 170041 people. These people normally spend an average of 2 minutes and 55 seconds watching the activity before they find something better to do. You’ve been already watching it for 9 minutes.
That’s the text I got after I clicked on the “What is this?” link at the upper left of the page. If the average is about 3 minutes, I guess I really don’t have something better to do? Of course not!
Go check This Is Now out and take a peek at other cities.