If you look at the history of photography, you'll find that photos are meant to be shared and to be seen. As a kid, I remember sitting at my grandfather's house watching slideshows (yes, actually slides) of his photography from all over the world. Now that I'm on my own trip around the world, sharing photos with my friends and family has taken on a whole new meaning.

Everyone takes lots of photos when travelling abroad or on any holiday vacation. On a single one-week vacation, you might come away with over 1,000 photos. How do you sort, save and share all of that content? Luckily, there are a lot of tools at a traveller's disposal to help spread and share their travel photos (and stories, too). And with an increasing amount of our personalities stored online, it's never been easier to share using social media.

Use Instagram and Twitter to share instantly

Services like Instagram are ubiquitous among iPhone and smartphone users. With the ability to snap a photo on just about every handheld device, you can also share that moment with just a few extra clicks. If you think about it, Polaroid film was one of the first photo sharing networks. Even though it took three minutes for the photo development process, it was still much quicker than most other cameras.

Nowadays, you can use your phone to take a photo and instantly upload it to any number of online services for immediate sharing. With the real-time aspect of social networks, combined with easy & accessible internet access across the world, you can share every moment of your trip with your friends, family and followers.

Instagram allows users to instantly add filters and share their photos as soon as the photo is taken. Because so many social networks are inter-linked as well, posting a photo to Instagram could easily be automatically sent to your personal Facebook and Twitter networks. So a quick photo you snapped of yourself in front of the Coliseum in Rome becomes immediately available to all the people you’re connected to online. Rather than having to sit your friends down to show them an album or some tricked out slideshow on your MacBook, they’ll get real-time updates.

Microblogging with services like Tumblr or Posterous

Microblogging platforms such as Tumblr and Posterous allow users to quickly upload photos which are then instantly available to their followers. With social media increasingly dependent upon live updates, microblogging sites (Twitter included) are a great way to keep friends & family updated on your travels with your travel photos. They also provide space for comments and feedback (along the lines of a "like" button). As a photographer, instant feedback on your photos can be both a burden and lifesaver.

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