Behind the need to communicate is the need to share. Behind the need to share is the need to be understood. /Leo Rosten/

Although most NYU Shanghai students who have Facebook accounts probably follow the Humans of New York profile, there are many other inspiring “Humans of ...” pages on the Internet that most people have never heard of. I believe this must have been one of the factors triggering the creation of humans. -- an online platform co-founded by Alexandru Grigoras, Musa Malik, and professor Keith Ross, collecting stories and street-portraits of people from all around the world. humans. is accessible in both mobile and website versions. Everyone can easily start an account to upload their own pictures as well as browse through the pictures posted by others. As Alexandru says, however: humans. is not just the world’s largest and most diverse photo album. It is a social network, though one unlike any other. It is the unique environment that brings the world’s people together, through the “lens” of each other’s eyes. It is the most sincere take on the stories worth sharing. It is precisely this idea of “sharing” that remains so central to the entire project. Musa explains it further: It is characteristic of human nature to judge other people. It is characteristic of human society to categorize other communities and form stereotypes. Our goal would be to simply connect people through storytelling. We want to transcend all forms of cultural barriers, religious animosities, and divisions of lifestyles. Because I promise you, nobody purposefully wants to hate. At the end of the day, we all just want to be, you know? Some of the NYU Shanghai students are already using humans. to post their own stories. Tirza Alberta and Anna Jaskiewicz -- portal sophomores -- are two of them. “Street-photography depicts life as it is, in all its ‘naturality’ and spontaneity, without any artificial embellishments. I guess this is what makes humans. so absorbing. humans. spreads stories that would otherwise remain untold,” adds Anna. Now that it is launched, humans. is now looking for potential resources and supporters for future development through Kickstarter. The goal is to create the iOS version of humans., and to further improve the user interface and design. It is something truly extraordinary. Of course, separate “Humans of…” pages have existed before on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, etc., but something that would gather all these pages on a single platform is an altogether new, and may I say brilliant, idea. Check them out at www.humans.photo! This article was written by Diem Hang Pham and Anna Maria Jaskiewicz. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: humans. Website