Flickr Video: Shark Jumping? Maybe Not
If you haven’t heard by now, Flickr has recently announced support for video. The news was sort of a shock to me, but I assumed it was only a matter of time. Passionate Flickr have been quick to assemble an anti-video group, already with over 1,000 members. Who can blame them? Over the years, Flickr has proved itself a first-class photo-sharing service. Flickr have love because it serves a very niche purpose, and serves it well. The very thought of it entering the video arena to compete with YouTube and its ilk leaves one to wonder if that love has just been squandered.
I honestly doubt that competing with YouTube is even Flickr’’s intention; something they have made explicitly clear with the idea of treating video as a “long photo” (example). Videos are even imposed with a 90-second time limit and a request that they be personal and not over-produced. Whether or not Flickr’s user-base chooses to abide by this or flout it remains to be seen.
Allowing videos to be posted is a natural extension of Flickr’s service. YouTube caters to it’s audience and I believe Flickr will continue to cater theirs without any lines of distinction being blurred. For example, say I go vacation to New York (which I do often). My camera, like most, is capable of producing video. Sometimes I’d capture some video of a bird’s-eye-view from top a building or one of those only-in-New-York moments in addition to my 200 stills. Sharing all of this was less than convenient.
Sharing the video portion of a photo set seemed incredibly cumbersome. Archaic, even. Sending a YouTube link to see the rest was a step backward. I mean, both the photos and the video were captured with the same camera! Why should they be on separate websites? Why couldn’t they be packaged together? This only makes sense.
I think Flickr has the right approach to this. For more information, read the Flickr blog.
Hey! How odd to find a link to one of my videos in your blog - this brand spanking shiny new Flickr video debate has afforded my video over 1100 hits in less than 15 hours.
Which is a lovely feeling (and thanks for your help), if a little odd to consider that very few of those people will click through and look at my photos (which I am far more proud of) - I don’t think my photos have 1100 views between them!
So did you find my video through the Video! Video! Video! group? I’m surprised this one (out of the four timelapses I have posted so far) has become the popular one. I think the harbour one (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lenoz/2402005502/) is probably the best of the uploaded ones.
Anyway, thanks again for the publicity - it would be good to hear from you if you fancy e-mailing me (I admit I only found your blog on a Technorati search from my Flickr DNA page).
And my two cents on the Flickr video debate: At a guess I only consider 5% of photos on Flickr to be decent stuff that I want to see. But that 95% has never forced itself on me, and I don’t see how with the addition of video I will lose that very same personal quality control.
All the best,
Matt (lenoz)