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The social photo-sharing landscape is vast (and often overwhelming!). Rising from the ranks, a relative newcomer is offering a twist for social photo-sharing enthusiasts: the ability to collaborate on photos. Focusing on the "social" aspect of social photo-sharing, Pixplit has created the ability for individual users to add their own element or fragment of a photo to help create a whole image. Basically, combining images is now all I'm going to be doing on my morning commute.
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Basics
Pixplit is basically a collaborative Instagram. Pixplit describes itself as sharing "social photos" and "it's like social Instagram," which really doesn't mean much considering the whole aspect of sharing photos on Instagram is social. Really, what they mean is that Pixplit is a collaborative photo-sharing app that has filters.
The whole premise is that you work with your followers, friends or random users to collage photos together and create a masterpiece, or more often than not, a hot mess. For me personally, this is combining all of my favorite things: photos, filters, random people and something creative to do while I'm riding the metro.
Setting Up
When setting up an account on Pixplit, you can either create a new account using your email address or sign in via Facebook. After you have logged in, the app will ask you to invite friends to collaborate with.
You can sign up via Facebook or with your email.
And then you are ready to go.
The Creative Juices Start Flowing
The main screen of Pixplit is divided into My Feed, Popular, News, Profile, Featured, New Split and at the very bottom, there is a search button and a Facebook friends invite button.
A split is a photo that has been divided into 2-4 open slots.
My Feed is a running feed of splits, both completed and unfinished. A split is a photo that has been divided into 2-4 open slots. The original owner posts the first photo into one of the open slots, and often will initiate a theme for the split.
There are two views in My Feed; one is the Playground feed and the other is the Completed feed. In both, the basic setup includes the split and underneath it there is a heart (aka "like") button, a comment button, a view related splits button and a more button. The more button allows you to: share to Facebook, Twitter or by email; save to library; resplit (more on that later); or flag a split.
Tap the contributor icons to view the users to added to the split.
The Completed feed features all of the completed splits made by users that you follow. Also on the completed splits page are the contributor icons in the top right corner. When you tap the icon, small contributor overlays pop up over each of the occupied slots. If you tap a contributor, a new screen will launch featuring their profile and a button on the top right offering you the ability to follow them.
In the Playground view, you can choose which split you would like to collaborate on.
In the Playground feed, you can scroll down through splits that need your creative stroke of genius. When you tap on a split that you would like to contribute to, a new page will open featuring the split. You can select any of the open slots to add your image. When you tap the image, a new page will open featuring the split, a camera roll icon on the bottom left, a take photo button bottom center, a cancel button top left, a flash button top right and a camera selector top right. Once you have selected your image, you can pinch to zoom in and move the photo to show the desired section in the slot. After your photo is properly placed, you can add filters and a border (it's a white border … yay.) After you have approved your photo, you can publish the photo and share it via Facebook, Twitter and email.
The resplit function is pretty cool. Basically, if you see a split (completed or otherwise) that you would like to collaborate on, you can resplit it —meaning, the split will revert to the original post so that you can participate. Sa-weet!
The Popular page and oh, look, I have news!
The Popular page features a collection of the most popular completed splits. When you tap on a split it will open up in a new page and will be laid out in the same manner as in My Feed.
The News button on the home screen will open a new page that features all of your personal news such as new follows and likes.
The Featured page shows different categories you can contribute to and your Profile page shows off your lovely self.
Over in the Featured button, Pixplit features different categories that contain unfinished splits. Choose a category, and a new page featuring a feed that is relevant to the selected category will open up. This is helpful if you are looking for something new or inspiring, or like me, you don't have a large group of people you are following so your Playground feed is a little weak.
On the Profile page, your Facebook profile photo (if you connected via Facebook) will show as your thumbnail image. The page will also list out how many fellow Pixplit users you are following, how many are following you, and how many splits you have liked. Under your basic stats, there are three tabs: a sectioned black cube (completed splits), a multi-colored sectioned cube (incomplete splits you have participated in), and a heart (the splits you have liked.)
And the final button is the New Split button. This is an easy, "hey, I want to make my own split" option. Tap the button and an overlay will pop up prompting you to choose a frame. After you choose a frame, a new page will open up with the empty split, choose which slot you want to start with, and edit the image as usual. After you are satisfied with the image, tap the green check mark and a new page will open prompting you to add a title, include location, invite followers, share and add tags. Pixplit provides you with eight tag options and there is a blank entry field for you to add your own.
Final Thoughts
Alright, so I dig the retro color scheme (beige, black and mustard yellow, hey-o!) and the home page design is pretty sweet. I love the idea of collaborating on images; it's basically taking social sharing to the next level. The UI is very straight-forward the app is very easy to navigate. But, the filters aren't very exciting, and the border add-on (just one?) is not very inspiring. Another aspect that I wasn't really expecting is that it seems most of the photos are stock photos, and not real photos. When I started using Pixplit I was expecting the majority of photos to be iPhone photos, but as I've been using the app, I'm noticing that many of the photos are stock or shot using a camera that is clearly not an iPhone. Images from movies, fashion editorials, amazing animal life shots and macro flower shots make my images look amateur and, well, sad. With that said, I'm still really enjoying the app and I'm looking for new users to follow (and, ahem, new followers.)
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