I admit two things. On one hand, I’m a believer in Marissa Mayer and the new Yahoo! revolution. And on the other, I’m growing weary of my loyalty to Yahoo! Mail and Flickr. I’ve been patiently waiting for updates, creativity and innovation from their products. It’s been a long wait.
Until, 12.12.2012.
5 years ago, Flickr’s strength was it’s loyal community and superb content. That got lost as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram emerged. Flickr started to gather dust. It seemed less relevant. And it started to feel like your favorite old game on NES. But with their new App – filters, location, sharing, discovery and super design, they made an incredibly bold statement. It was like a 12th round knockout.
App features built in photo taking and filters
Me on the Flickr App
It’s rare to see a software or technology company, on the ropes, become supremely relevant again. I’m so impressed and proud of the Flickr team. You only have to browse this blog to understand how much I love Flickr.
Flickr is located in San Francisco, blocks away from countless start ups, software and technology companies and the next big online idea waiting around the corner. They will need to continue innovation, experimentation and risk taking if they are going to continue this new found momentum.
Here are few of my suggestions for Flickr.
Flickr-ification. Flickr needs to become more integrated into every day life, such as the ability to pull in images on your flat screen TV, newer cars, gaming devices, and it needs to fight to remain a pivotal function of blogs. It’s about distributing the brand globally.
Speaking of brand. It wouldn’t hurt to align itself with people, companies, or movements of prominence. I’d love to see Flickr as the official photo experience of SXSW or TED, sponsorship of carefully selected photographers, online superstars or the New York Times, and developing a global, annual conference around community, software and photography.
Flickr should also develop better integration with all devices capable of taking photos. I’m mainly thinking DSLR’s. Integrate into the software of Canon or Nikon to better leverage wifi functionality and the strategy to become the preferred photography publisher of record.
Storytelling and Connections. Fully utilize Flickr’s massive surrounding content related to metadata, locations and community to build deeper connections within the App, reveal new relationships and expand the ability of photography to be a meaningful storyteller. Flickr should surprise the user. Surprise us.
More cat photos. They seem to be popular.
Develop more partnerships around the world. This would tie in nicely to conference, but really stretch the limits with camera companies, someone like Adobe, content delivery network providers, Mashable, and more. Photos can tell the stories of life. Bring in more connectors and make photography, Flickr more relevant.
Thank you Flickr for making me proud.
