Stock art seller uses Twitter to help buyers find right image

Stock art subscription services have been around for some time, but earlier this year Getty Images introduced Thinkstock, which offers millions of select royalty-free images, vectors and illustrations from multiple providers. Now, Thinkstock is testing Social Art Buyer, a service that uses Twitter to help subscribers find the images they need. Thinkstock brings together more than 5 million user-generated and professionally art-directed images from Seattle-based Getty Images, iStockphoto and Jupiterimages. Priced at USD 149 for a week, USD 249 for a month or USD 199 per month for an annual subscription, Thinkstock lets subscribers download up to 25 images a day or 750 images a month; legal protection against copyright claims is included. Now, with the Social Art Buyer service, users can submit an image request to @Thinkstock. The Thinkstock team will then begin by checking the Thinkstock library for a match; if it’s not there, they’ll look outside for an image that fits the requester’s needs. It seems fair to say that once a product array is established—whether it’s the books on Amazon or the images on Thinkstock—the next step is curation and/or help zeroing in on the right ones. Most sites focus on improved search algorithms, but personalized search services could be a compelling option. One to try out or emulate for your own overwhelmed consumers…? (Related: Marketplace for custom advertising images.) Spotted by: Rosalie Berns