The Fall of Flickr
When I say that Flickr is going to fall I don’t mean that its going to collapse and fold. I mean it’s time for me, and many other photographers to move on. I mean the quality of Flickr has been diluted to the point of no return. I mean it’s going through a natural state of democratization. I mean it’s gone outside its authoritative niche in an effort to grow. I mean its lost that loving feeling.
And… I mean it.
Out of 4,000+ photos in my stream the eldest is from 2006. I’ve been a member for quite some time. I loved Flickr. Adored it. It was an amazing community filled with a caring and passionate user base. I’ve made numerous *real life friends, met on Flickr. I’ve gone from amateur to pro on Flickr. I’ve sold photos through Flickr. Thanks, Flickr. I’ve shared intimate details of my families lives on Flickr. But that’s all about to change. You see, the most popular camera being used on Flickr is about to become the iphone. For a passionate photography community that spells disaster. It means that Flickr is no longer about quality. It’s no longer about passionate photography that people pine over. They may as well just raised everyone’s rent by 50%. It’s that damning. They may not realize it yet, but its an epoch.
I saw the turning point when they offered video. That was a political announcement that stated a new policy directive. They would no longer focus (gratuitous photogray pun) solely on still frames, but rather strive to increase user base by eating into the video market share. This may have worked, if they did it correctly. If they handled compression correctly. Delivery correctly. And, encouraged artistic creation of gorgeous videos comparable to what they did for photographs. They did not do a single one. Hence, you see the relative equivalent in video quality to youtubes most viewed list. A sad turn of events. Flickr’s desire to increase user base, a capitalistic maneuver to ramp up it’s bottom line, is transparent enough to make the same users who made it the quality community it is, depart for a new upstart. Yes, there will be a new photography site that people will move to soon.
That upstart will surely emerge over the next year. The upstart will bring the same feel that early Flickr made so appealing. Quality, simplicity, and above all a focus on the photograph. Minimalistic features and interface that accomplished one goal, and filled one need, superbly well. That site will surely go through the same cycle of growth, expansion, democratization, dilution and downfall. Online communities are like bands that make it. They’re hungry and amazing only to get popular and fat.
I can’t blame Flickr for selling out. They never promised us they’d keep it real. Their tag line is “the best photo management and sharing application in the world”. They’ve carried through on this promise. They never branded themselves as the photographers photography community. But, that’s what they became and why we’ll leave.
As of this writing, I’m actually not sure I’ll leave entirely. It’s difficult cutting off a stream of photographs that have documented just about every day of the last 4 years of your life. Like Facebook is to my Tweets, I’ll probably still back publish my photos from the new upstart to my old Flickrstream, never to visit.
* I say real life for your benefit. I don’t believe in a delineation between online and offline like you do. Flickr is real life. Just as online is offline and offline is online. There is no difference anymore.
