As possibly the most popular history-focused twitter feed, @HistoryInPics may have the key to engaging a mass online audience. With diverse images ranging from impassioned 1970s protestors to obscure celebrity baby photos, they've captured over 986 thousand followers.
A public history endeavor ourselves, we’re curious how this kind of online popularity is achieved by a history site. The Atlantic’s tech writer, Alexis Madrigal, provides an interesting profile of the two teenagers who run this site and their keys to success.
Yet, as Madrigal explains, with great technological power and reach comes great responsibility. @HistoryPics often ignores issues of copyright, proper fact-checking, and now their status as a non-profit site is in question.
…The Atlantic article provoked additional response from digital media strategist for the Shakespeare Folger Library in Washington, D.C., Sarah Werner. Read here why she despises @HistoryInPics and their "casual relationship to the truth" in a piece she wrote for History News Network.
