Flickr Review: Photo Sharing and so Much More

The Internet has made it easy for us to post photos of our kids, share ideas with those who have similar hobbies, and create handmade and personalized gifts for our loved ones. What if there was one site where all these things could be accomplished at once?

Believe it or not, there is, and it’s more familiar than you might have imagined. Flickr has been around since 2004, and got its start as a series of tools and chat options for Ludicorp’s Game Neverending, a web-based multiplayer game. As its uploading and filing back-end options became more renowned, the chat and video game modules were shelved. Yahoo! purchased Flickr in March of 2005. As of today, Flickr claims to host more than 3 billion images worldwide.

One of the most prominent features of Flickr is its ability to tag images. This allows searchers to find images by topics such as subject or place names. Flickr also allows users to group photos into “sets” of shots with similar features or places. Sets on Flickr are more flexible than traditional methods of organizing files – one photo can belong to one set, many sets, or no sets.

Flickr also appeals to the tech guru. Its functionality includes RSS and Atom feeds, as well as an API allowing programmers to write applications expanding its services. Want to print a book? Choose Blurb or HP + Flickr. Want to print a mug? Add QOOP to your account. Because the site relies almost solely on HTML and HTTP features, Flickr and its add-ons are compliant across a wide range of browsers and platforms.

Flickr is widely used by bloggers as a photo repository. And why not? Users can upload up to 6 images at a time, and Flickr automatically resizes images to a perfect size.

One of Flickr’s newest developments is historic. Literally. Flickr hosts several museums and archives with images released under a “no known restrictions” license. Among the goals for the new image archive were to “firstly show you hidden treasures in the world’s public photography archives, and secondly to show how your input and knowledge can help make these collections even richer.”

Flickr provides both private and public storage for images and video files. Privacy controls are accessed via a user’s member profile, where a photo can be flagged as either public or private. Private images are visible by default only to the uploader, but they can also be modified for friends and/or family to view.

Uploading photos to Flickr is simple. There is a web-based photo upload as one would see on other sites, but Flickr also allows users to post images via email attachments. In addition, users can upload directly from their mobile devices. There is also a desktop client for both Mac OS X and Windows for users to add photos to the site. Users of Windows Live Photo Gallery can also upload their photos directly to Flickr.

Flickr also rivals MySpace and Facebook for its social networking capabilities. Users can comment on other people’s public photos, search for photos tagged to match interests, and share with the world. Like Facebook and MySpace, Flickr also has an active group community with message boards for discussion.

The limits of Flickr are endless. While the site recently implemented a 100MB limit on photos uploaded in a single month (with a free account), it’s hard to see how any one person can reach that limit without really trying. In addition, Flickr has developed partnerships with third party enterprises to offer printing of various forms of merchandise, such as business cards, photo books, and large size prints.

It’s been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. By choosing Flickr as your prime hub for your online gallery, you can control what your image says.