Christine Chang (張靜之), 24, comes home late at night, exhausted from a whole day of classes. As on any other evening, she plops down in front of her computer and checks her e-mail. And, like a growing number of young people around the world, she next checks her Internet photo album. As an aspiring actress, currently living in New York, this is an important part of her day.
At the same time halfway across the world in Taipei, a college senior who wished only to be identified by his album registration, SSDCTW, daily browses through dozens of albums, some of them belonging to friends, many others belong to complete strangers.
Browsing photo albums is a growing trend that plays an increasingly important role in the lives of young people in Taiwan today. Once, being online meant having an e-mail address. Now, something more is expected.
"I've kept Internet albums for six years now, from when I entered college," Chang said. "There was a time when I had three albums registered on different sites." Subsequently, she focused on a Web site called Wretch (by far the most popular and most visited Taiwanese album site). I go on almost everyday."
A casual browse through Wretch and other album sites such as PChome's shows that Internet album sites have become much more than just tools for users to share photographs. "Sites wouldn't be visited that often if it weren't for certain links being widely circulated," SSDCTW said.
For example, under the category "beauty" on one BBS site during a recent browse, one in four posts linked to a "hot chick" or "cute guy" Web site. As many of these album sites also have a "hot list" ranking albums that have attracted the greatest number of hits.
It is no surprise that albums in the top 10, many of which belong to rising celebrities or wannabe models, receive tens of thousands of hits a day.
"Everyone owns a digital camera these days and Internet albums simply provide a medium for friends to share their lives, memories, or recent happenings," Chang said.
And of course, for Chang, having an online album means more exposure.
A closer look at some of the most popular albums shows that a few of the more professional-looking ones are maintained by modeling or talent agencies, no doubt hoping to promote their stable of clients through the youth Internet grapevine.
"Quite often, right before a celebrity breaks into the mainstream, the popularity of albums containing their pictures will suddenly skyrocket," SSDCTW said. "Or I will remember first hearing about the latest star months ago through Internet albums."
This phenomenon has helped Chang's profile. Having once appeared in a TV commercial while still in college in Taiwan, her albums attracted fans over the ensuing years.
"I didn't realize that so many strangers viewed my albums," she said. "I was getting fan mail from complete strangers, messages thanking me for inspiring hope in their lives, and even a modeling job offer," she said.
The browsing of Internet photo albums is not an activity restricted to the young. Wu Kuo-liang (
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