Project on Flickr

TelePaul

Hey all,

I have to do a project on a firm within the services industry. I'm opting for a web-based entity, and I think Flickr ties in wonderfully with the phenomenon of social-networking (the latter may be considered the quintessential services firm; they sell nothing but still make money)

I was wondering if maybe some of you would like to give your opinions on Flickr - the pros, cons, opportunity for expansion, potential problems facing it etc etc etc.

The project isn't due for some time, and doesn't have to be particularly lengthly, but it'd be nice to get your opinions as the average flickr user.

Cheers guys.

Your hero,

TelePaul

Ricky91t

Problems Facing it..IMAGE THEFT :P
you always read stories on flickr groups about it

TelePaul

ricky91t wrote: »

Problems Facing it..IMAGE THEFT :P
you always read stories on flickr groups about it

Cool, managing of intellectual property rights. That's cool. Are flickr actively doing something to prevent this? Or is it up to users to upload a low-res image?

PixelTrawler

If its on the web, it can be stolen - bar inserting water marks theres not a lot Flickr can do technically. All you have to do is either take it from the browser cache, right click and download or screen grab and crop.

And I dont think anyone wants to see ugly water marks on the images.

What flickr does is it offer users the ability to lock down their photos to contacts and friend etc.

They also offer a range of copyright labels for your photos. Beyond that, theres not a lot to be done.

they sell nothing but still make money

While they may not sell something you can take away and touch, they are of course selling a service - although I think its products you meant.

Good topic and choice of site to study. Flickr is one of the best web apps on the internet in terms of how its built and designed. Also not having adverts is a joy. Going for paid 'pro' accounts for funding - which are very cheap - was an excellent decision.

Stephen

One big problem facing flickr: It makes no money.

TelePaul

Stephen wrote: »

One big problem facing flickr: It makes no money.

What about through advertising and premium subscriptions?

TelePaul

Joebloggs4817 wrote: »

While they may not sell something you can take away and touch, they are of course selling a service - although I think its products you meant.

Well they don't sell something tangible. That's what I meant.

Stephen

They make money from pro accounts and stuff but they don't make profit. The kind of bandwidth flickr pushes every month must cost hundreds of thousands of €. Yahoo keeps it alive because the brand and the community is worth loads to them.

TelePaul

Stephen wrote: »

They make money from pro accounts and stuff but they don't make profit. The kind of bandwidth flickr pushes every month must cost hundreds of thousands of €. Yahoo keeps it alive because the brand and the community is worth loads to them.

Not that I doubt you but is this stated somewhere?

helios

ricky91t wrote: »

Problems Facing it..IMAGE THEFT :P
you always read stories on flickr groups about it

Amen to that. I had a personal experience of my own, though I won't bore you all with the details.

One thing I have noticed about Flickr, is that a lot of companies seem to be trolling for photos to use for adverts, travel promos and other things. It saves the company €€€ since they won't have to hire a photog to get the photo, and I suppose it also gives them more choices. I've had several shots picked up by web-bases travel sites, and even got one published in a book(!!!) and it cost them exactly €0.00 for the photo (though I did get a copy of the book as compo).

challengemaster

helios wrote: »

and even got one published in a book(!!!) and it cost them exactly €0.00 for the photo (though I did get a copy of the book as compo).

lol, For something like that i'd have asked for 20% of profits made on the book

They wont do it again!

helios

challengemaster wrote: »

lol, For something like that i'd have asked for 20% of profits made on the book

They wont do it again!

Not all of us are in it for profit. I was happy to contribute, and as we discussed before, but I won't get into that again

challengemaster

No, but im pretty sure we all hate the type of people who steal images to use as they're too scabby to pay. It's more for purpose than profit..