Many years ago a good friend pointed me to Flickr. I've been there for 13 years where I post much of my work. I was there when Yahoo bought and nearly destroyed the image sharing platform. I was there when Yahoo sold out to Verizon/Oath. I was there when I decided to close my (also long running) Facebook account, and all attendant Facebook owned company applications (including Instagram). Flickr is still where I remain today.
This morning I read that Flickr will be sold to SmugMug. I wonder if Verizon/Oath had this in mind when they purchased Yahoo? It seems like Verizon/Oath are doing a bit of asset stripping. And it makes me wonder what they will do with Tumblr, another interesting application, and one that I can't imagine how it fits in Verizon/Oath's platform "strategy" (ie: data mining and sales ala Facebook).
Coming back to SmugMug a moment, when my friend first pointed me to Flickr I wondered what other image sharing platforms might look like. Over the years I would look at SmugMug and wonder why people liked it. It seemed so basic and simple. Eventually I stopped looking at it. Until today, that is.
When I went to SmugMug to look at the website I was surprised. Things have changed and it actually looks pretty good. Still, I can't feel more than a little worried about what changes SmugMug will make to Flickr.
So many things have changed in the past month and a half for how I engage the online world. First it was the payment problems with px500 and the subsequent announcement of a sale to a Chinese owned company. I had hoped I could sell a print or two of some work that I was particularly proud of.
Then it was the Cambridge Analytica revelations of data scraping 87 million user accounts on Facebook. I had a "public" Facebook page devoted to my photography. I used it as a contact point for models, stylists, and other creative people. Risking making a solid retreat from the all of these engagement I made a difficult decision to close my Instagram and Facebook accounts. And indeed my access to the creative world has shrunk.
And now this, the sale of Flickr to SmugMug. My Flickr hosted images have received nearly 10 million (yes, you read that correctly - 10 million) views. I really don't want to give up these kinds of eyeballs and this kind of deep access to creative images and talented artists. I'll have to carefully review the new Terms and Conditions as well as their Data Privacy Statement as soon as they are updated by the new company.
[UPDATE: Here are the new Terms and Conditions]
This morning I read that Flickr will be sold to SmugMug. I wonder if Verizon/Oath had this in mind when they purchased Yahoo? It seems like Verizon/Oath are doing a bit of asset stripping. And it makes me wonder what they will do with Tumblr, another interesting application, and one that I can't imagine how it fits in Verizon/Oath's platform "strategy" (ie: data mining and sales ala Facebook).
Coming back to SmugMug a moment, when my friend first pointed me to Flickr I wondered what other image sharing platforms might look like. Over the years I would look at SmugMug and wonder why people liked it. It seemed so basic and simple. Eventually I stopped looking at it. Until today, that is.
When I went to SmugMug to look at the website I was surprised. Things have changed and it actually looks pretty good. Still, I can't feel more than a little worried about what changes SmugMug will make to Flickr.
So many things have changed in the past month and a half for how I engage the online world. First it was the payment problems with px500 and the subsequent announcement of a sale to a Chinese owned company. I had hoped I could sell a print or two of some work that I was particularly proud of.
Then it was the Cambridge Analytica revelations of data scraping 87 million user accounts on Facebook. I had a "public" Facebook page devoted to my photography. I used it as a contact point for models, stylists, and other creative people. Risking making a solid retreat from the all of these engagement I made a difficult decision to close my Instagram and Facebook accounts. And indeed my access to the creative world has shrunk.
And now this, the sale of Flickr to SmugMug. My Flickr hosted images have received nearly 10 million (yes, you read that correctly - 10 million) views. I really don't want to give up these kinds of eyeballs and this kind of deep access to creative images and talented artists. I'll have to carefully review the new Terms and Conditions as well as their Data Privacy Statement as soon as they are updated by the new company.
[UPDATE: Here are the new Terms and Conditions]
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