4 ms·

good point! Instagram happened!

johannes1234321 5y ago
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
- simonw 5y ago
  Flickr was a mass market social network back in ~2007 if you squint at it in the right way.
  - ghaff 5y ago
    You'd have to squint very very hard. Certainly lots of people who used Flickr for free online photo storage are on Instagram today. But the social network aspect of Flickr was always pretty focused on the prosumer and, perhaps to a lesser degree, pro base who were willing to pay an annual fee. It's not clear to me that Flickr (and now Flickr/Smugmug) could have co-existed on the same service as Instagram. So the Flickr could have been Instagram narrative, which if true would have been great for the founders, would also have been awful for the most serious users of the Flickr service.
    - simonw 5y ago
      Flickr had a follow button, and everything revolved around the stream of photos taken by your friends and family. There was even a song written about it! http://rolandtanglao.com/2005/02/12/i-love-my-flickr-friends/ http://rolandtanglao.com/2005/02/12/i-love-my-flickr-friends...
      - ghaff 5y ago
        But pre-smartphones, a lot of this was a very different population.
  - et-al 5y ago
    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/ 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/ 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.
- kaichanvong 5y ago
  I never aspired being the amateur photographer; simply hoped to connect, keep portraits (with permission ofc), delete accordingly, create good image/picture and more. Sometimes happening photos happened to be full of life/fun! Looking back; my photography naturally changed. Hopefully a few people found it. For me it was a process, going towards a dark room of being/keeping creative! Flickr seemed a place for aspirations; people requesting and connecting. -instagram is a quick snap, photograph; for me, at times. Seems more personal
- decafninja 5y ago
  Seems Instagram has sort of evolved into something that many professional photographers use to market their work/services too. I found my wedding photographer on Instagram, as did a lot of my friends. Instagram is just the starting point of course, but since so many people use it * it seems like a natural place to market photography services. Later, my wife wanted to do a photoshoot of us on our trips to Paris and Hawaii. We found local professional photographers there via Instagram also. * IIRC Instagram is considered "uncool" by younger generations, so who knows where things will be many years down the road.

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

simonw 5y ago
Flickr was a mass market social network back in ~2007 if you squint at it in the right way.
- ghaff 5y ago
  You'd have to squint very very hard. Certainly lots of people who used Flickr for free online photo storage are on Instagram today. But the social network aspect of Flickr was always pretty focused on the prosumer and, perhaps to a lesser degree, pro base who were willing to pay an annual fee. It's not clear to me that Flickr (and now Flickr/Smugmug) could have co-existed on the same service as Instagram. So the Flickr could have been Instagram narrative, which if true would have been great for the founders, would also have been awful for the most serious users of the Flickr service.
  - simonw 5y ago
    Flickr had a follow button, and everything revolved around the stream of photos taken by your friends and family. There was even a song written about it! http://rolandtanglao.com/2005/02/12/i-love-my-flickr-friends/ http://rolandtanglao.com/2005/02/12/i-love-my-flickr-friends...
    - ghaff 5y ago
      But pre-smartphones, a lot of this was a very different population.
- et-al 5y ago
  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/ 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/ 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.
kaichanvong 5y ago
I never aspired being the amateur photographer; simply hoped to connect, keep portraits (with permission ofc), delete accordingly, create good image/picture and more. Sometimes happening photos happened to be full of life/fun! Looking back; my photography naturally changed. Hopefully a few people found it. For me it was a process, going towards a dark room of being/keeping creative! Flickr seemed a place for aspirations; people requesting and connecting. -instagram is a quick snap, photograph; for me, at times. Seems more personal
decafninja 5y ago
Seems Instagram has sort of evolved into something that many professional photographers use to market their work/services too. I found my wedding photographer on Instagram, as did a lot of my friends. Instagram is just the starting point of course, but since so many people use it * it seems like a natural place to market photography services. Later, my wife wanted to do a photoshoot of us on our trips to Paris and Hawaii. We found local professional photographers there via Instagram also. * IIRC Instagram is considered "uncool" by younger generations, so who knows where things will be many years down the road.