The UK's leading dog charity has launched a photo-sharing site for dog owners and lovers. Other NGOs should sit up and take notice, writes Tim Malbon.

Launched in October, DoggySnaps.com is a new, innovative venture by the Dog's Trust. The beta site enables users to upload photos and donate the rights in kind to the Dog's Trust. The trust, is not only using the site to increase awareness of dog welfare and dogs that needs homes, but they are also using the rights donated photographs to create a commercial online photo library of dog images, through which they will generate revenue to support their work.

The site has already proven to be a massive success and has already created a good sense of community. To date the site has gained over 3,500 doggy photos, including a rather glamorous and gorgeous photo of a bulldog puppy called Daisy.

The traffic generated by the site is already the same level as the dogstrust.org.uk website, with users busy commenting on each others photographs and comparing notes looking after their pets.

The site is due to launch blogs for registered users of the site and other new features are in the pipe-line.

DoggySnaps is a very interesting example of how a charity can both make money and attract new visitors to their campaigns using web 2.0 disruptive models. The trust has turned itself inside out to provide a platform for their audience to be able to talk about and share what they are interested in without any direction or intervention.

About the author
Tim Malbon is creative director of Interesource.