I have been using Flickr for six years, I am a fan! Thanks to its community I have learned a lot about photography. However since a year or two ago I have been noticing how the activity on Flickr has been decreasing. Users are leaving and using other services. It is not something surprising because its development has been completely stagnant; they have failed at developing smartphone apps and at giving the website a more socialmedia-timeline look. It is something I struggle to understand, Flickr was the last hope that Yahoo had to compete as a social network and they are letting it die.
- In 2007-2008 Flickr was one of the few options available for users that simply wanted to upload “casual photos”. Right now they are using Instagram, Twitter, Hipstamatic or Facebook, where they can have a lot more feedback and an immediate conversation with their social graph. Almost all casual users of Flickr have been inactive during several months, they have forgotten it exists.
- In 2007-2008, for more professional users Flickr was also one of the few options available. Now they are starting so use other services like Google+ where they can upload BEAUTIFUL galleries or also 500px where you can set up a minisite with your portfolio
In conclusion: within the current social network ecosystem Flickr has stopped being necessary for both casual as well as for professional photographers. I have the feeling that right now we are using Flickr only photographers not really casual but not really professional that paid for their PRO account and we are still using it out of habit.
Before, I was using my Flickr account for almost EVERYTHING: for hosting images of my blog, for personal photos, for artistic photos, for funny pictures, etc. Now for personal photos I use Facebook and Google+, and for more artistic photos I still use Flickr but Google+ as well. For the last 3 months I have been using 500px to see if I find it useful or not.
However, something that still nobody can do better than Flickr is search! My Flickr account is something indespensable when I need a specific photo for a blog post or for my next book; for example if I need photos of toriis….
Where do you upload your photos? What is your experience with Flickr during the last few years? Any recommendations?
