Is flickr Being Sold?

[Mike Farley]

It is being widely reported that flickr is up for sale as Yahoo struggles with its financial difficulties. It is speculation, but if Yahoo cannot make a profit from the current service, what would any new owner have to do? What will its future be if Yahoo cannot dispose of it? Free might seem attractive, but relying on any product or service for which there is no charge is not neccesarily a good thing in the long term. I am currently writing a blog post on this subject which will be available on my website in the next day or so.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/5785088732 ... properties

[Rose]

Looks like it... I read something a few weeks back before the report on DPreiew the other day.

[davidc]

It's up for sale, whether or not it will be sold is another question. Still it's annoying... I now need to find an alternate image sharing/hosting site. That's something I'll be turning into a blogpost of my own too.

Any suggestions outside of google or 500px?

[Mike Farley]

It's up for sale, whether or not it will be sold is another question. Still it's annoying... I now need to find an alternate image sharing/hosting site. That's something I'll be turning into a blogpost of my own too.

Much depends on the outcome of the sale process. It's unlikely that there will be any radical changes soon. If Yahoo cannot sell flickr this time around, it is unlikely that they will want to do anything in the short term to damage the value of the brand while they investigate other options. Any new owner will need time to consider and develop any changes they want to introduce. The most pressing issue for users is whether to add new images in the interim. If it were me, I would be using Lightroom's library functions to keep tabs on what is being uploaded to make it easier to switch should that eventuality arise.

Any suggestions outside of google or 500px?

It might be worthwhile to consider a paid service such as Zenfolio, which offers unlimited storage on all its plans wihich start at £5 per month. By entering a commercial relationship and providing the hosting company with a direct income, its future is more likely to be assured albeit nothing is guaranteed. With Zenfolio, you do not have to use all the functionality on offer if all you want are flickr style galleries. Note, I am not advocating Zenfolio as I have no experience of them, rather a general alternative approach to image hosting.

https://secure.zenfolio.com/uk/z/produc ... es/by-plan

[Mike Farley]

That's something I'll be turning into a blogpost of my own too.

Just seen the post on your blog and PetaPixel. Nicely done.

[davidc]

Yes it was quite fun writing that