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Whatever happened to Flickr?

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Re: Whatever happened to Flickr?

#121

Post by mthoms »

shostack wrote: post #93
biztos wrote: post #55

I know it's unhealthy, but I harbor a fantasy in which the modest and user-loving folks from SmugMug[0] pivot Flickr into an all-encompassing portal system a la iMode[1] and drive the productivity vampire Slack[2] out of business, ideally leaving Mr Butterfield a few dollars shy of gull-wing doors[3]. [0]: https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/20/smugmug-acquires-flickr [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-mode [2]: https:/…

Can confirm that SmugMug and Flickr people love their users and customers. Every single person I interacted with during my time there cared a great deal about the people and photos the service supported. Most people there were into photography themselves as well at some level (personally or professionally).

IIRC SmugMug was family owned and run. Perhaps it still is?

Re: Whatever happened to Flickr?

#122

Post by glenstein »

petilon wrote: post #114
dpark wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it really strange that Mayer gets the blame for Yahoo’s decline. Yahoo was racing downhill before Mayer was even considered for the CEO role there. I am doubtful anyone could have reversed Yahoo’s fortune. At least when Steve Jobs showed up to save Apple they had a core competency. Frankly Yahoo didn’t. Yahoo failed to capitalize on search until Google was entrenched. They failed to invest properly in targeted…

> I find it really strange that Mayer gets the blame for Yahoo’s decline. Not strange at all. That's literally what a CEO gets paid to do: to not be in decline. Microsoft was in decline when Satya took over too. It is no longer in decline. He knows how to do the job, and he is doing it.

That's an ok eli5 explainer of what a CEO is, but the positions of Microsoft and Yahoo are not remotely analogous, and the blame of Marissa Meyer flies in the face of any kind of appropriate portionality or historical context.

I guess the part where I agree with you is the implicit acknowledgment that blame is merely a function of the job title, and not in any way correlated with any rational analysis of whether those expectations are realistic or accurate reflections of causality.

Re: Whatever happened to Flickr?

#123

Post by et-al »

simonw wrote: post #94
johannes1234321 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While Instagram and Flickr (at least in theory) serve a different audience. Flickr is for the professional or aspiring amateur photographer, to manage their photos and build show cases. Maybe even selling their photos online. Instagram is a mass market social network

Flickr was a mass market social network back in ~2007 if you squint at it in the right way.

You don't need to squint: Flickr Groups were a major part of the Flickr experience. E.g. Hardcore Street Photography (HCSP) had meetups and even published several books: https://www.flickr.com/groups/onthestreet/

And basically any hobby that had an aspect of photo documentation probably created a Flickr group. Trainspotters, of course. Vintage computers? Sure! https://www.flickr.com/groups/vintagecomputers/pool/

These groups were better than anything Instagram has to offer because there were lengthy discussions and moderation tools. Even today, it's still impossible to search for a photo using a union of two tags on Instagram.

It's a pity that Instagram has beat out Flickr, but it's also a testament that ease of UX matters and is critical in gaining and maintaining market share.

Re: Whatever happened to Flickr?

#124

Post by forgotpwd16 »

wott wrote: post #38
forgotpwd16 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the problem with UX now compared to before?

It used to be well organised grid-ordered thumbnails (regularly displayed even when from different aspect ratios) on a white background that made picture stand out, with titles and descriptions as first citizens. Ipernity ( http://www.ipernity.com/explore/whatshot ) kept more or less that appearance, if you want to see). Then in 2012 or 2013, they 'modernised' it into the current one: glued pictures with almost no se…

Truthfully, as a user, I like the patchwork approach, or maybe have gotten used to it due to others sites using a similar design (DeviantArt, 500px). Without text and border I find pictures stand out more. But they could've kept the old one as an option. Also having an option for always active title/description in the new one would've been nice.

Re: Whatever happened to Flickr?

#125

Post by ollien »

greyface- wrote: post #65
grumblepeet wrote: post #61

Did you know that Flickr actually started out as an online multiplayer game, with file sharing as one if its features. The game flopped, but the file sharing bit was redeveloped into Flickr. Some of the files used to have .GNE in their url's, with GNE standing for 'Game Never Ending' which was the same of the game. See https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Game_Neverending for reference. Looks like the game is going to be…

Stewart Butterfield, one of the founders, then went on to give the MMO thing another shot, starting one called Glitch in 2009. In 2012, it was deemed unprofitable, and they pivoted, re-developing their internal communication tools into Slack, which was wildly successful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glitch_(video_game)

Oh man I remember Glitch! I remember waiting for weekends where it was up so I could play. I had no idea it pivoted into Slack. Thanks for sharing!

Re: Whatever happened to Flickr?

#126

Post by bsder »

dpark wrote: post #112
bborud wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can blame Marissa Mayer for a lot of things. But Flickr was doomed the second they were acquired by Yahoo!.

Mayer can’t be blamed for much at yahoo. She was brought in to save a sinking ship and it turned out to be unsalvageable. Steve Jobs couldn’t have turned that one around.

> Mayer can’t be blamed for much at yahoo. She was brought in to save a sinking ship and it turned out to be unsalvageable.

Erm, why not? She got paid a ton and failed. She should be blamed.

Yahoo absolutely could have been turned around. Yahoo Japan shows that.

The problem, like so many CEOs, was lack of clear vision. When you are failing, you have to place the bet and drive it through. Sure, the probability is that you will lose but if you don't then losing becomes a certainty.

The problem is that this is anathema to anybody who who was good at the middle management game. You get ahead as a middle manager not by placing big bets but by mostly avoiding failure.

Re: Whatever happened to Flickr?

#127

Post by greyface- »

ollien wrote: post #125
greyface- wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stewart Butterfield, one of the founders, then went on to give the MMO thing another shot, starting one called Glitch in 2009. In 2012, it was deemed unprofitable, and they pivoted, re-developing their internal communication tools into Slack, which was wildly successful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glitch_(video_game)

Oh man I remember Glitch! I remember waiting for weekends where it was up so I could play. I had no idea it pivoted into Slack. Thanks for sharing!

Never forget that feeling of wonder. :)

RIP Glitch

Re: Whatever happened to Flickr?

#128

Post by jcrawfordor »

forgotpwd16 wrote: post #118
jcrawfordor wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this gets at an insightful issue - In Flickr's heyday, much of its userbase was professional, aspiring, and amateur photographers who were effectively power users. They viewed Flickr as something like an extension of Lightroom, so they used it for storage but also curated their public profile, lists, etc in a sort of proto-Instagram way. When Flickr repositioned post Yahoo acquisition, it felt like it was aim…

>500px, which I don't like as much but is closer to Flickr in the good old days Hmm... Checking the 500px's homepage and profiles it has the 'modernised' points that wott mentions.

I was actually surprised looking at it myself, I've never been a 500px user but have been linked to it before. It seems like they did a pretty big redesign in the last couple of years and... now push NFTs. Swell.

Re: Whatever happened to Flickr?

#129

Post by dpark »

bsder wrote: post #126
dpark wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mayer can’t be blamed for much at yahoo. She was brought in to save a sinking ship and it turned out to be unsalvageable. Steve Jobs couldn’t have turned that one around.

> Mayer can’t be blamed for much at yahoo. She was brought in to save a sinking ship and it turned out to be unsalvageable. Erm, why not? She got paid a ton and failed. She should be blamed. Yahoo absolutely could have been turned around. Yahoo Japan shows that. The problem, like so many CEOs, was lack of clear vision . When you are failing, you have to place the bet and drive it through. Sure, the probability is tha…

> Erm, why not? She got paid a ton and failed. She should be blamed.

Because it’s absurd to only blame the last person in a line of ceos who presided over more than a decade of decline.

> Yahoo absolutely could have been turned around. Yahoo Japan shows that.

Yahoo Japan was always special. It was not a wholly owned subsidiary and also did not experience the same decline. It wasn’t turned around. It didn’t need a turnaround.

Re: Whatever happened to Flickr?

#130

Post by shostack »

mthoms wrote: post #121
shostack wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can confirm that SmugMug and Flickr people love their users and customers. Every single person I interacted with during my time there cared a great deal about the people and photos the service supported. Most people there were into photography themselves as well at some level (personally or professionally).

IIRC SmugMug was family owned and run. Perhaps it still is?

Correct and afaik it still is. There were also a few families that had multiple family members working there. It was (and presumably still is) exceptionally family friendly. Even by Bay Area tech standards.
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