There’s a lot of buzz about whether Flickr is still cool. I can’t speak for cool, but I still use it. And I still think it’s the best at what it does. Here’s why.
Flickr, much like Google+, lets me upload photos and tag them. And Google+ has communities, much like Flickr’s groups. But Flickr lets me very quickly and easily add a photo to multiple groups. During the upload process, you can add all the tags and check off the groups from your list, as well as your own photo sets. I really like Google+ for conversing with other photographers, but it just doesn’t do as well at letting you browse through photos.
Instagram has a really good mobile app, and it’s very good for sharing photos you take with your phone. That’s not really what I do. My phone is fun, and I have it with me all the time so I take photos with it to document things that are happening when I don’t have my “real” camera. But the image quality just isn’t there. You can’t zoom in on a far off subject like you can with a DSLR, or a good compact camera. Where Instagram comes up short is on their web interface. Flickr has a good web interface, and I can look at the photos my friends share on a bigger screen, and see them at their best. I can look at photos online with Instagram, to an extent. But Instagram is meant for the small screen.
Facebook is home to an ever growing collection of photos. And they have groups. But much like Google+, the photos are part of a timeline. They are spread out amongst comments, and ad’s, and conversations. It’s good for what it is. But for browsing photos, it’s just not as good as the screen layout on Flickr. Flickr’s interface is made for browsing photos.
I really enjoy the quality of the photos that get uploaded to 500px. There are some amazing photographers contributing to that site. I also really like the interface and the overall layout. But what that site is lacking is grouping. They have tags and broad categories to group the photos together. It’s really easy to browse portraits, or black and white photos. And the Popular photos, and the Editors Picks are a good way to see what other people are finding interesting. But the organic groups that the end user community sets up just aren’t there.
After Flickr was purchased by Yahoo, they seemed to stop innovating, and changing, and leading the pack. But they were so far ahead, and had the site set up so well, that they are still there. They fell down on the mobile front, and lost a lot of ground to Instagram for photo sharing. And other sites that started as social networks and have added photo sharing are becoming popular. But Flickr always was, and will be about the photography. Sharing it. Cataloging it. And talking about it.