Yahoo! Photos to Shut Down

prostoalex writes "Yahoo has finally made a decision regarding Yahoo! Photos vs. Flickr battle, and will be shutting down Yahoo! Photos by the fall of this year. Even though Yahoo! Photos currently maintains a higher share of Internet visits, Flickr growth convinced the company to maintain a single photo site from now on. Says USA Today: 'Stewart Butterfield, who co-founded Flickr in 2004 with wife Caterina Fake, says the move is a "validation" of the central idea of Flickr: that photos in the digital age are very different from a physical print. "We saw it as a means of communication and connecting with people," says Butterfield, Flickr's general manager. "People can take a picture and get immediate feedback from all over the world, and you can't do that with a printed photo."'"

Was wondering

[bsharitt]

I was wondering how they were going to merge Yahoo photos with flickr, and was expecting and uglier merger. Throwing out Yahoo photos is a much nicer solution.

Re:

[Ilgaz]

They say (can't paste, text picture in gif!) that my photos will be automatically converted to flickr.

Lets hope Flickr doesn't have "karma" thing, my precious(!) yahoo photos are generally funny looking stuff I got from mail attachments. :)

Wonder how much money Flickr makes.

[nagarjun]

I have never seen any advertising on Flickr. Assuming even 5 million paid subscribers ("pro accounts") worldwide, that's only a little over $100 million/yr. Not a lot for a company of Yahoo's size.

They have other revenue streams [slashdot.org] too of course, but I can't get help get the feeling that Flickr gets Yahoo! more good PR than money.

Re:

[ZzzzSleep]

It also gives them a huge tagged photobase to onsell to advertisers.

Re:Wonder how much money Flickr makes.

[Mwongozi]

You must have a Pro account. Free accounts display ads.

Re:

[jrumney]

Or perhaps the GP never looks at Groups or Explore. Flickr only seems to advertise other Yahoo properties (through inconspicuous icons at the bottom) for me when I look at individual photos or someone's photostream.

Re:

[disasm]

You can stick with your PC as long as you run Linux. For in the book of Linus, Chapter 4, Verse 2, "For Linux is the way of the slashdotter. For those not using Linux primarily will be cut off from the computer and will perish in the perils of the Evil One, being forced to upgrade from now till all eternity..."

Sam

*WARNING* The above is satire/comedy, not heresy. LAUGH!

Re:

[Fanther]

Throwing out Yahoo photos is a much nicer solution.

Still, many won't like it...

Bill Tancer, general manager of global research for Hitwise, says he doesn't expect many Yahoo Photos users to move to Flickr, because it's an older, more entrenched audience.

Multi Search Interface [friskr.com]

Re:

[trisweb]

Yeah, they're completely different. Many people don't want Flickr, they just want photo storage and display, maaaaaybe with some social capability and links and such.

So Google's got 'em with Picasa Web, which is a beautiful application. Not that Yahoo photos was ever much, so it's not that big a loss, still.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope they lift the limits on flickr once Yahoo Photos closes down. Photos currently has unlimited storage AND you can download all of the original high resolution uploads for free, which is real nice for archiving.
flickr still has a bunch of restrictions for free accounts.

Re:

[skrowl]

Nothing about it is mentioned on yahoo photo or on flickr. No migration tools on either site. Something that no one has mentioned MAY be the reason Yahoo photo is shutting down. Yahoo photo = free forever, no matter how much you upload. Flickr = charges you if you upload more than a handful of pictures. Follow the money. The proof is in the profit. etc.

Re:

[aplusjimages]

This sucks. I like Yahoo Photos better than Flickr because of the unlimited storage space and 10MB file size limit, which Flickr is only 5MB. I was using Yahoo Photos as a 3rd back up for all my photos and I was able to keep them in their original high resolution which was nice. I wish it was a merge.

Re:

[Glytch]

I think that's exactly why yahoo photos is getting canned, free unlimited storage makes flickr less attractive.

Re:

[Electron]

No, it's Fake.

-- Electron

But...

[madbawa]

...will I have to create yet another account for Flickr or will my Yahoo login work?

Re:

[bsharitt]

I believe they've already got flickr working with Yahoo logins. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's a requirement for new accounts, and they may have made the old users migrate.

Re:

[utnapistim]

and they may have made the old users migrate.

They did; I was one of the victims. The kept offering a "merge with your yahoo account" option, then they made it mandatory :(.

Re:But...

[maxume]

If you collect your tears from when a giant corporation harms you, you can use them to bring a puppy back to life.

Re:

[aplusjimages]

Wrong.

Re:

[maxume]

Tried it and failed have you?

Re:

[The Great Pretender]

Now that made me laugh, thank you. Shame I just used up my mod points yesterday.

Re:

[cjb-nc]

I just created a new Flikr account. I was required to provide my Yahoo login, or create a new Yahoo login to sign up. I was a little disturbed since my Yahoo login is an old gaming account for a game I haven't played in 2 years. I was pleasantly surprised that you still get to select your Flikr ID. It doesn't have to be the same as your login.

Photobucket 40% market share

[lowem]

From TFA, it's interesting to note that Photobucket has 40% market share, at least in terms of hits (as of Apr 2007). Even if you add up Yahoo Photos and Flickr, that's 10.2%.

Re:Photobucket 40% market share

[stunt_penguin]

To be honest, I'd go for quality over quantity. I don't mean to sound snotty, but flickr isn't a site where everyone just uploads their OMG funny!! GIF files and every crappy camera phone snap; it's more of a serious photographer's site, and as such doesn't have the same potential market as somewhere like photobucket.

It does, however, redeem Yahoo! in the eyes of a lot of people, and for that, I suppose they should be grateful.

Re:

[maxume]

I only use flickr to upload crappy camera snaps. Not camera phone, but it isn't like my camera is the best one ever made.

Re:

[markandrew]

...flickr isn't a site where everyone just uploads their OMG funny!! GIF files and every crappy camera phone snap; it's more of a serious photographer's site...

You haven't spent long browsing on flickr, obviously

Re:Photobucket 40% market share

[stunt_penguin]

You haven't spent long actually using flickr, obviously.

Re:

[asninn]

No, the GP is right. Sure, there are people on Flickr who post OMGfunny!!111 pictures and the like, but generally speaking, they seem to be in the minority (or at least it FEELS like they're in the minority).

Also, Photobucket is really just that - a big bucket into which you dump stuff. Flickr, on the other hand, is all about sharing, exploring and interacting (I know that sounds cheesy, but it's true). I can see why Photobucket has a higher market share if all you want to do is dump your photos on a free h

Re:

[the_womble]

How much Photobucket traffic comes from a few major sources like Myspace? How many page views does it get per user.

I see links images on Flickr on lots of websites. I cannot remember seeing any to Photobucket.

My guess is that Photobucket has more hits, but Flickr has greater reach [moneyterms.co.uk].

Re:

[monkeyboythom]

Quit being disingenuous. We all know what Photobucket is used for. Flickr's cute bunnies, landscapes, and OMG! silliness can never compete against pics of 40 DD's and the latest upskirt of a celebrity.

How much Photobucket traffic comes from a few major sources like Myspace? How many page views does it get per user. I see links images on Flickr on lots of websites. I cannot remember seeing any to Photobucket. My guess is that Photobucket has more hits, but Flickr has greater reach.

Re:

[TMarvelous]

I'd venture that's because everyone on MySpace seems to host their pictures on Photobucket. All those millions of MySpace page views are gonna generates millions and millions more hits for Photbucket. My guess is Photobucket lags way behind in actual page views and unique visits.

Well, that's not what Yahoo is saying...

[jungleh]

If you take the time to log into yahoo photos, you'll see they are about to roll out a new version, which is not Flickr. CNet news.com has reviewd the new site, and they don't think it looks like yahoo is shutting photos down: http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-6084601-7.html [com.com]

Re:

[searchr]

Um, that CNet "review" is dated June 15, 2006!!! Yahoo has been "announcing" a new site for over a year now. I think you get a free registration with your copy of Duke Nukem Forever.

Re: That's not what Yahoo is saying...

[jungleh]

Never mind, that article is almost a year old. Should have RTFD before posting...

Re:

[JensenDied]

yay for not reading the post directly above the one you replied to, gp was referring to the link http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-6084601-7.html [com.com] being nearly a year old [June-2006].

Let's hope they'll get to keep Flickr then...

[Jugalator]

OK, let's see if they'll get to keep Flickr then...

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN042225 3620070504?feedType=RSS [reuters.com]

Re:Let's hope they'll get to keep Flickr then...

[CrackedButter]

Oh I fucking hope not. I use Yahoo for many things and if Microsoft buys them, I'd have to switch to Google or something more 3rd party. I also wouldn't want to turn the internet into a Google vs Microsoft landscape because that is what it is if Microsoft buys Yahoo! The internet is more interesting with Yahoo.

Re:Let's hope they'll get to keep Flickr then...

[kestasjk]

What's a "Yahoo"? Is that like a "Fax" or "Cassette" or something?

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

A Yahoo is an uncultured or rough person, and comes from Swift's book Gulliver's Travels.

Well you did ask...

best is to shift to picasaweb!

[freakxx]

it offers 1 GB of total space and unlimited bandwidth...sufficient for an ordinary user....if needed more, create another picasaweb account and link one account with another using favorite feature of it...

I used Flickr before but was annoyed much with their 20MB/month limit as 1280x1024 images were talking 600KB+....means, not more than 35 images a month...a big restriction...

Photobucket?

[ubuwalker31]

I love using photobucket....it has almost limitless space. Or tinypic. There are so many good options out there. Any others?

Re:

[Alex Zepeda]

Flickr has bumped the bandwidth limit to 100 mb/month. While I am loathe to support Yahoo, considering their willingness to cooperate with law enforcement, the Flickr interface is vastly superior (way way more intuitive) than the Picassa interface. Plus, you can store an unlimited number photos on Flickr, even with a free account.

Re:

[Elwood P Dowd]

While I am loathe to support Yahoo, considering their willingness to cooperate with law enforcement,

I'm glad Yahoo got dinged for this, but trust that every large communications company has done the same. If there aren't Google engineers in prison, then they've complied with the Patriot Act.

Re:

[Alex Zepeda]

Specifically, I refuse to throw money at Yahoo! because of their actions in China. You know, the whole dissident who was jailed because of information provided by Yahoo!. I realize that Google is guilty of similar things both in China, and in countries like Brazil [boingboing.net]. But, thankfully, the Picassa interface is so bad, I wouldn't really consider using it anyhow. And, of course, I think that most countries (save for the United States) have better records on human rights than China does.

As far as every communi

eGroups

[lennier1]

Does anyone still remember when the same thing happened with eGroups and Yahoo! Groups?

Target Photos

[tigerc]

I personally use target to print some of my photos (the quality is better than I thought it'd be and faster than because you can pick it up.) Target photo is tied into Yahoo photos...I wonder what will happen. Flickr already uses its own printing service, so maybe we'll have two choices?

Re:

[nicktripp]

You can print to Target from Flickr as well. I've been doing it for a couple of years now.

Continuity of free services

[bill_kress]

This kind of makes me sad. Not that I ever really trusted them, but as a user the ONLY thing I really really need is a continuity of service.

It would just be nice to know that if I happen to forget about the service for a year or two and then happen to need it, it's there--ready to serve those pictures that you uploaded years ago.

Paid services are worse because any accidental lapse in payments and your photos all drop into the bit bucket. I know that sounds like a silly worry, but when you are talking about long-term continuity (across generations, possibly), at some point there is going to be a payment screwup of some sort.

Doing it yourself is probably the worst case. Eventually a server crashes or screws up and you don't reload it, also--what a waste to leave a server running 24/7 for years just in case you need to review a picture!

This is most significant with pictures. Many people consider the pictures of their family among their most treasured possessions. You could just spam all the services with all your pictures, but that has a bunch of problems. They all use different upload methods and most take a huge amount of manual labor--Also many have limits so you can't really just blindly upload all your pictures anyway.

Of course, I'm complaining about a "Free" service that I'd use rarely, so I realize I have not right to demand, but to see a site that thousands of people have trusted to hold memories--people that my not even check back before the site closes--makes me a little sad.

Yahoo! on their way out?

[East Coast Models]

Do Yahoo! really have the image and the business to take on Google? With falling profits they need to start capturing web users once again before we are left with just one search portal left - Google. That wouldn't be good would it?

east coast models [eastcoastmodels.co.uk]