The web is swarming with images. If you see a picture of a long-lost friend or someone you were close to on a website, you feel pleased and want to get in touch. Or you come across a picture or video clip of a catastrophe as soon as it’s uploaded, you are shocked and sad and want to get more news about the incident.
But like all good things in life, there is a downside as well. Millions of images are posted daily on the web. And don’t be surprised, the majority of them are phony. Yes, that picture of your long-lost friend or dear one could be a fake. So, don’t be too surprised when you see a picture that you like turns out to be a phony.
Reasons For Unpopularity Of Reverse Picture Search
Reverse search applications have been around for over 15 years. Fifty percent, no we are being conservative, over eighty percent of ‘netizens’ (Netizens are people who live on the web, not in the real world) don’t know about this application. This does not mean that this web service is below par, but there has been a lack of publicity about it. Ask anyone who has been using Google since it was launched if they know about this service. No, well there it is; you got your answer: they have no idea what you are talking about. Very few people have an interest in using reverse image search, and that’s why it has remained dormant since its inception.
This lack of interest stems from the fact that we are so caught up in digital gadgets that our attention span has reduced. Today people have a shorter attention span than goldfish. Don’t believe it; look it up. We are constantly engrossed in our smartphones, social media, watching TV, and other chores of life.
We see a picture we like, if we want more info on it, we click the website it’s posted on, and that’s that. If we spot a fake picture, we will either ignore it or post a nasty comment on it and move on.
Very few people are interested in finding out the source of a fake image that they spot on the web. That’s the main reason why reverse picture search has been pushed to the backseat.
Example:
You are browsing around the web on social media, and you come across the name of a long-lost friend. What is your reaction? You click on the site, read the content, and post a reply. You don’t get a reply, what do you do? Send a message again or think the friend you tried to contact is not interested in reestablishing contact with you. So, you move on.
Let’s take another scenario. A friend posts a message about the wonderful holiday they are having at a lovely holiday resort. What do you do? You look at the pictures that your friend has posted. Believe them to be true and send a greetings message.
You are not going to bother to find out if the place your friend has posted about is real. Nope, you trust your friend, and that’s it.
People generally believe whatever they see posted on various websites. A picture, a bit of a story and that’s all that people look at, swallow hook, line, and sinker, and move on.
So why should anyone be interested in using reverse photo search? A surfer would only be interested in using this tool if he or she wants to play detective and get more information on the image that has caught their attention.
Spotting Fakes with reverseimagesearch.com
A common curse on the web today is the rapid increase in con artists, especially on social media sites. A hacker or con artist copy/pastes a picture of a different person creates a false profile and hides their true identity. Hackers fish for information using this trick. If someone falls for this trick, they get scammed or conned.
We have heard this story so many times of people moaning and groaning about getting scammed on the web. But people who get reeled in by these scammers have not learned or tried to use reverse photo search.