John Suler's PhotoPsychology
Flickr has a checkered future
New windows are being installed in our house today, so it’s freezing. We had to retreat to the downstairs family room and turn up the heat. I’m on a laptop, which doesn’t contain any of my photos, so I created this one in photobooth. Not the most sophisticated image in the world, but it works OK for my little essay that follows.
While down here, I read an article in the New York Times about how Flickr is on the decline. When it comes to sharing photos as part of social networking, Facebook is giving Flickr a thrashing (sidenote: having been thrashed seems to be the origin of the term “a checkered past”). Way more people are using Facebook to share photos about their lives.
On a positive note, people who are seriously interested in photography are more inclined to use Flickr. Nevertheless, that isn’t going to generate nearly as much revenue as the “photo sharing social network for everyone” that Flickr claims to be. The people running Flickr must know they’re in trouble, even though, according to the NY Times article, they still want to give the impression that Flickr is like friends and family sitting on the living room couch, talking about photos.
Did I just say, “Talking about photos?” Yes I did, but to be quite honest, I see very little of that happening in flickr, even among the people who are serious about photography. Instead I see lots of terse and mundane comments, which has mostly been the case for the 5 years I’ve been on flickr.
Rather than it truly being a social network where people, including those serious about photography, are discussing photos, I see flickr more as a kind of competition or popularity contest. Who gets the most views, favs, explore hits, and comments, regardless of how valuable those comments are. I see it more as a “recognition network” than truly a “social network.” Besides being a good photographer, in order to get that recognition, one also needs to be good at the flickr “recognition” game. Online you’ll find lots of advice about how to be a flickr superstar, but very little about discussing photos.
Flickr has a checkered future
New windows are being installed in our house today, so it’s freezing. We had to retreat to the downstairs family room and turn up the heat. I’m on a laptop, which doesn’t contain any of my photos, so I created this one in photobooth. Not the most sophisticated image in the world, but it works OK for my little essay that follows.
While down here, I read an article in the New York Times about how Flickr is on the decline. When it comes to sharing photos as part of social networking, Facebook is giving Flickr a thrashing (sidenote: having been thrashed seems to be the origin of the term “a checkered past”). Way more people are using Facebook to share photos about their lives.
On a positive note, people who are seriously interested in photography are more inclined to use Flickr. Nevertheless, that isn’t going to generate nearly as much revenue as the “photo sharing social network for everyone” that Flickr claims to be. The people running Flickr must know they’re in trouble, even though, according to the NY Times article, they still want to give the impression that Flickr is like friends and family sitting on the living room couch, talking about photos.
Did I just say, “Talking about photos?” Yes I did, but to be quite honest, I see very little of that happening in flickr, even among the people who are serious about photography. Instead I see lots of terse and mundane comments, which has mostly been the case for the 5 years I’ve been on flickr.
Rather than it truly being a social network where people, including those serious about photography, are discussing photos, I see flickr more as a kind of competition or popularity contest. Who gets the most views, favs, explore hits, and comments, regardless of how valuable those comments are. I see it more as a “recognition network” than truly a “social network.” Besides being a good photographer, in order to get that recognition, one also needs to be good at the flickr “recognition” game. Online you’ll find lots of advice about how to be a flickr superstar, but very little about discussing photos.