'Net Features : flickr

Flickr Gives Users Space

Allison Howen — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:21:00 GMT

Although Yahoo has been in the news this week because of its billion dollar acquisition of Tumblr, the company has also revealed some big changes to its photo-sharing service Flickr.

The most noteworthy update is that Flickr is now offering its users a free terabyte of space. This is huge, as the Flickr blog states, “We believe you should share all your images in full resolution, so life’s moments can be relived in their original quality. No limited pixels, no cramped formats, no memories that fall flat. We’re giving your photos room to breathe, and you the space to upload a dizzying number of photos and videos, for free. Just how big is a terabyte? Well, you could take a photo every hour for forty years without filling one.”

In addition to a free terabyte of space, Flickr has unveiled a redesigned platform. The new interactive design features an Activity Feed that displays a combination of the recent activity on a user’s photos with their friends’ updates. Plus, users can add a customizable cover photo and high-resolution profile picture to their Photostream, as well as leverage the platform’s new Slideshare mode to view a showcase of photos.

It is also important to mention that users can now upload 1080p HD quality videos that are up to three minutes in length. Moreover, the photo-sharing site has added to its mobile application offering, which already includes an iOS app, by launching an Android app that allows users to interact, share and view photos.

That being said, only time will tell if a terabyte of space and new design will be enough to attract more photographers to the site – and along with the aquisition of Tumblr, more people back to Yahoo in the long run.

Getty Images Expands on Flickr

Allison Howen — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 09:30:00 GMT

Getty Images has expanded its partnership with Flickr by launching Flickr Select.

Flickr Select is a curated, rights-managed collection that represents some of the most creative and dynamic professional photos from the Flickr Collection on the Getty Images website.

Flickr Select debuted with almost 6,000 images, and new pictures will be added on a monthly basis. The content within Flickr Select is chosen by Getty Images’ editors from images available on Flickr’s website.

Getty Images originally launched its partnership with Flickr in March 2009. As one of the biggest names in the photography business, images are sold all over the world by Getty Images for commercial and editorial use.

“What sets Flickr Select apart are one-of-a-kind pictures hand-picked by our editors and art directors that illustrate life as it’s being – real moments captured by everyday people,” says Andrew Delaney, head of content at Getty Images.

For more information or to purchase photos, view the Flickr collection at www.gettyimages.com/flickr.

Yahoo's Flickr Affiliate Program

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 19:58:00 GMT

In a way, your website is not unlike any other in that you need visitors to remain sustainable and profitable. Whether income arrives from the sale of a product or the advertising impressions users generate, one of the best ways to get people in the door is through an affiliate program.

Yahoo just sent out an affiliate related notification announcing payouts on actions (leads and sign-ups) to its popular photo managment and sharing application Flickr. Flickr? Yes, Flickr.

Yahoo/Flickr will be paying $1.00 for a Flickr account sign-up and $5.00 for a sale of the Yahoo Flickr pro subscription. In reality, it is quite a generous payout. Editors note - the program is being run through Commision Junction.

As with other lead based actions in the Yahoo! affiliate program, Yahoo will not be paying comissions on incentivized traffic but they did note that they will allow incentivized traffic for paid Flickr Pro subscriptions. Imagine that.

Yahoo! has a long and troubled history when it comes to affiliate programs (anyone recall the Yahoo! Publisher Network?) but this does indicate a renewed interest - some of you might call it a desperate attempt - to reach out and work with community of Web professionals.

What Google's Farmer Update Means to Your Business

Mike Phillips — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 20:10:00 GMT

Google announced what may ultimately be one of the biggest changes to their algorithm yet.

From the Official Google Blog: "Many of the changes we make are so subtle that very few people notice them. But in the last day or so we launched a pretty big algorithmic improvement to our ranking—a change that noticeably impacts 11.8% of our queries—and we wanted to let people know what’s going on. This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful."

Notice the language being used. Specifically, "...reduce rankings for low-quality sites..." That means it's not only individual posts or pieces of content will be penalized for being deemed "low-quality" but entire websites. The announcement also mentions "low-value add for users" and sites that "copy content from other websites." The target? Content farms, to start. These sites exist and profit based on volume. The more content produced (often for a pittance) the better they do – or did.

To most observers and users, this focus on volume resulted in millions of low-quality pieces of content cluttering the search engine results pages (SERPs). The writers producing content for these content farms are paid largely based on views. No indexing in Google, no views. No views, no pay. No pay, no writers ... and no content.

Sites such as Yahoo Contributor Network and those of Demand Media (including eHow) fit the bill, to be sure. But one must wonder if others sites such as Examiner.com or pure user-contributor sites such as Yahoo Answers will also be affected. (Read Website Magazine's in-depth review of Yahoo Contributor Network.)

The update will also impact Bing and every other search engine. Simply put, if Google's results get better in the eyes of users, Bing and the others cannot afford to be viewed as having inferior results.

Without question, the focus is now on producing original, quality content. So-called scraper sites are doomed. But even bloggers need to be careful about posting content that could be considered "low-quality" or that which could be viewed as being a simple re-publishing of existing content. In other words, if you don't have anything original to say about an existing story ... be careful. Now more than ever, the focus seems to be shifting toward quality, not necessarily quantity.

In all, this update should be a good thing for the Web – both for users and those who work tirelessly to produce quality content.

The first priority for every business is to keep a constant watch on your analytics. Are your numbers slipping for keywords of which your site previously ranked highly? Are overall numbers dropping? Hopefully not. But there are some things that can be done to ensure your traffic does not suffer.

Be aggressive about building your user base. Search is powerful but it’s not the only way to ensure visitors to your website. Build a strong following on social networks and work hard to increase email sign-ups and newsletter subscribers.

Solicit quality inbound links. High-quality links will remain a pivotal factor in search engine rankings. Be diligent about networking with like-minded content producers and work to get links – quality links, including those with keyword-rich anchor text. In no way is it recommended to purchase links.

Produce varied forms of content. Search engines like a little variety. In addition to a company blog, consider producing video for a YouTube channel, a photo log on Flickr, or a podcast on iTunes.

Hire a good writer. This public call for quality content might warrant the hiring of a skilled writer for some businesses. Well-written, compelling content tends to attract links, garner social mentions and spread through online communities. Remember that today's skilled writer also knows how to create SEO-friendly content.

Yahoo! Upgrades Flickr and Launches a New Testing Service

Linc Wonham — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:00:00 GMT

The folks at Yahoo! have rolled out some interesting new features in the past few days.

Flickr, the photo-sharing site purchased by Yahoo! in 2005, has an impressively redesigned primary photo page that, among other things, highlights the location information that users can include with their photos. The images displayed on the main page have also been enlarged by 35 percent and can be separately viewed in a lightbox. The navigation controls have been improved so that users can flip through photos more quickly and seamlessly than before.

Yahoo! also unveiled a new website user testing service it calls Boomerang. The new service allows site owners and Webmasters to get an objective, end-user’s view of their sites and evaluate things such as performance of dynamic pages, user bandwidth, component load time and network latency. Boomerang is available for download now.

RedGage: Avoid or Consider?

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:31:00 GMT

RedGage has launched in public beta after 18 months in development. It's one of those Web services you are either going to love or absolutely hate.

RedGage is positioning itself as a centralized hub for users to earn money for the content they create and publish on sites like Flickr, Blogger, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. This means that photographers can important their Flickr feed, videographers can import their YouTube feed, and bloggers can import their weblog's RSS feed. Users are then compensated for this online content essentially leveraging their social graph to monetize "social activity."

The inherent flaw in the model of RedGage is it requires content publishers to send their Web users to the RedGage property instead of their own. That ultimately might be too significant a hurdle for many publishers to get over.

RedGage has essentially partnered with advertising networks (15 in total according to Daniel Redlich, CEO of RedGage) in order to compensate its users. The service pays its users roughly $1.00 US/per thousand impressions. There are actually a few factors (considered dynamically) in determining the actual payout including the quality of content, the users level of activity, and their level of influence.

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From a high-level there is seemingly some genuine value in a service like this. “Most people don’t realize that there is inherent economic value in what they’re creating online. It’s no secret that someone is making money; but, people like me, who spend time producing content, don’t usually share in any of the revenue from the companies who own the platforms,” said Redlich. “That’s why we built a system that gives money back to the creators. Web 2.0 democratized the distribution of content; RedGage is democratizing the monetization of content.”

Will you consider RedGage or avoid it entirely?
Share your thoughts by commenting below.

Yahoo! Image Search with Creative Commons

MaureenA — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:06:00 GMT

Stock photography from sites like iStock, Shutterstock or Fotolia are expensive and out of reach for many Web professionals. For those looking for an alternative, or who don't want to pay at all for a photo, Yahoo! added a new feature that will appeal to you.

Yesterday, Yahoo! announced the advanced filter for image searches using Creative Commons. This new addition is intended to ease the use of searching for images that can be repurposed without copyright infringement. Creative Commons provides licensure to artists while allowing content to be shared.

This new addition only applies to Flickr images, while Flickr has offered the Creative Commons filter for its users previously. It's important to note that Flickr is a property of Yahoo! which may have made the new feature an easier launch. However, no other search engine provides this license filter.

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MapQuest Gets Social With Twitter & More

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:35:00 GMT

If you're a local business owner looking to capitalize on the boom in social media marketing, look no further than MapQuest. Yes, Mapquest.

The once-leading map site, since displaced by Google Maps, has recently added a local Twitter feed on its MapQuest Local home page. By the looks of it, Twitter users that designate a location in their profile could appear on a geo-specific page when users search at MapQuest. I'm not sure how much value actual Tweets provide MapQuest users (those we saw were mainly about Gov. Blagojevich), but it is a relevant addition to an already hyper-social local portal, which, if you're a local business owner, you might want to have on your radar.

Some of the services already tapped in MapQuest local include Truveo (video), Flickr (images), Kaango (classifieds), Topix (news) and of course Yelp (consumer reviews). Each of the sites listed above present an opportunity to get a website (or at least a reference to the business) listed on MapQuest local. The value proposition of participating in these networks (by submitting local videos and images, posting classified listings, submitting news and facilitating customers reviews) will extend your brand well beyond these individual portals.

Video Sharing in the Flickrverse

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:21:00 GMT

The 25 million registered users of Flickr, the popular photo sharing network and a Yahoo! owned property, are now able to post short video clips (90 seconds) to the site. Actually, only Flickr Pro members (who pay $24.95 annually) are able to post videos for now but any user can watch clips for free as long as they have permission. The video posted on Flickr can be geo-tagged to indicate where they were taken which may be a genuine boon to the mobile aspirations of Yahoo! and its users. The service launched yesterday in eight languages on Flickr websites worldwide.

Here's a sample video from Flickr: