A New Way to Store Photos Online (And Play With Them)

The holidays are (almost) over — and your digital camera is full. Question is, after you download the images, email them to a few relatives and post some on flickr or Facebook, what happens then?

Entrepreneur Gabe Zichermann believes, not incorrectly I think, that most of our images get left in our computers gathering digital dust most of the year.

rmbrimage His response: rmbr.com a new photo networking site in Beta testing that aims to keep images in circulation through games, dialogue and ratings. Ive been playing with rmbr, and while its too early to judge its success, as an average photographer, I see potential.

Rmbr members have conversations about a photo. The discussion then “tags” it with relevant search terms and background info. Playing games like Scavenger Huntor and Memory with photos is another way to add data about their importance and keep them in view.

The goal: to have a search function that lets people use natural language such as, “I want to see all photos of Dad on the beach,” to find images.

Gabe One smart feature: You don’t have reload photos from scratch if you’ve already posted them elsewhere. With your permission, rmbr will let you haul your flickr, Facebook or MySpace photos over to its site–and in some cases, use a rmbr interface within those sites. As more social applications vie for inroads, such integration will be critical.

Rmbr is free; theres no limit to how many pictures users can post.

Some drawbacks: like a lot of comments on blogs and chat rooms, there’s no guarantee photo discussion will stay polite or on point. Theres also the chance, as with any online media, that an image of you could wind up online and fodder for discussion (or ridicule) without your permission. As with blogs, you can get email alerts when someone posts a comment about images you post.

Formerly of Cisco and online game distributor Trymedia Systems, Mr. Zichermann launched New York-based rmbr with about $300,000 in angel capital.

Readers, how do you use your photos online now? Do you worry about privacy issues with people posting pictures of you without your knowledge online?