Mobile Apptitude

UPDATE: If you are following situation in Iran, also check out the Flickr photostream of supporters of the reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi. Many mobile phone pictures are being uploaded here from Tehran and protests around the world.

Becky Bond, Monday June 15 @ 7:40 a.m.

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Heading to a protest?

I spent Saturday May 30 protesting California’s ban on gay marriage in Fresno of all places.

San Jose State students protest Prop 8 at Meet in the Middle in Fresno, Calif.

Check out these San Jose State students with their inspiring reaction to Prop 8. Right after I took this picture, I sent this out to folks at CREDO Mobile asking if maybe we should adopt “We don’t do losing” as our new slogan for our campaign to repeal Prop 8. I shared it on Facebook and uploaded it to the CREDO Action Flickr photostream.

It’s easy to share mobile phone pictures with the world in real time. If I can do it, you can, too.

There are many ways to share photos from your phone. Here’s two that I like to use.

Flickr
If you have a Flickr account, you can take photos with your phone and then use your phone’s “email this picture” function to automatically post your photos on the popular photo publishing site.

1. First, if you don’t have a Flickr account set one up. It’s free. Just go to the Flickr homepage and click on the button that says “Create Your Account.”
2. Once you have set up a Flickr account, go to Flickr’s special page for sharing photos from your mobile phone.
3. Check out the option that allows you to “Use your own unique address to email content directly into your Flickr account from your cameraphone or mobile device.” Click through to page that explains this option
4. Now you’ll see an email address that is unique to your account. It looks something like: yourcustomaddress@photos.flickr.com. Save this address into your contacts list on your phone under Flickr.
5. Now comes the fun part. Test this out by taking a picture with your mobile phone. Choosing the option to “email this picture” and then choose the email you stored under the name “Flickr” as the “to” address.
6. Type whatever text you want to be the title of the picture on Flickr in the subject line of the email. The text you type in the body of the email will be used as the photo’s description (watch out for your email signature, it could end up on Flickr!).

Go to your Flickr photostream to see your pictures! (Want to see a few of my photos from Saturday’s rally for marriage equality in Fresno? Check out CREDO Action’s Flickr photostream.

Facebook
If you have a BlackBerry like me (and a CREDO BlackBerry Curve no less! Get yours at credomobile.com) it’s easy to upload your pictures directly to Facebook. Here’s how you do it.

1. Simply visit www.blackberry.com/facebook on your phone or go to the BlackBerry site on your home computer and follow the directions to download and install BlackBerry for Facebook. The download page is here.
2. After you have it successfully installed, take a photo with your phone.
3. Now, while viewing the photo you’ve just taken, hit the menu key. This should bring up a range of options, including “Send to Facebook.” Choose this option.
4. Facebook will ask you to add a caption. You can also choose an album with the pull down menu provided or just leave it with the default “Mobile Uploads” album option. You can tag the photo if you like as well.
5. All you have to do now to publish the picture live to your Facebook feed is click the “Upload” link.

Want to see a few of my protest photos from Fresno on Facebook? Just go to the CREDO Mobile Facebook fan page and view the Meet in the Middle album.

Facebook also has applications for download for Windows Mobile, Palm, and Sony Ericsson.

Sharing photos in real time is not only a great activist tool — it’s fun. And a great way to connect with your online social network.