A disappointment. If you're looking for writing on photography with the nuance and complexity of Sontag, Barthes, or Berger this is not the book for you. Re-read one of their books instead.

There are some thoughtful insights in this book. Sadly the author has a propensity to repeat them paragraph after paragraph with little development, leaving the reader feeling stranded when the subject changes with little resolution. Many times I found myself thinking this book started as a shorter essay that was uncomfortably stretched and padded out to meet a minimum length.

As Andrew Howdle noted in his review, Jurgenson criticizes other thinkers on digital media but does not seriously engage with their work, often quickly dismissing them for what seems like the sake of being contrarian. I felt this was one of the most serious flaws in the book, as many of the ideas he quickly dismisses linger and add up, undermining many of his own arguments.

Ultimately, there isn't much in-depth discussion about 'social photos' to be found in Jurgenson's book.