Flickr fights back

If you have used Flickr in the past but — in the age of Facebook and Instagram– sort of forgotten about it, I think it’s time to reconsider.

Flickr has always had some features that made it the go-to for photo storage and sharing. Yes, its a paid service but, as a result, they’ve given users more content and less filler than most other services. In the plus column for Flickr:

• full-sized image uploads
• no advertising
• adult-content filter
• lots of content-specific groups

Lately, Yahoo let the service languish. They released one iPhone app a couple years ago and then did little to update it while Hipstamatic and then Instagram trounced all over them. Even my loyal Flickr friends were abandoning ship for Facebook and Instagram’s easy digital upload and streaming always-on content.

But the tide is changing and I have to say I am happy to see it. Last summer, Yahoo hired Marissa Mayer as their new CEO and the internet responded with their plea. There were some updates to the website interface in the months following but no news about any improved integration on phones. About two weeks ago, Flickr released a new version of their iOS app which included some queues from Instagram with a built-in camera app and goofy filters so that images can be shot and uploaded to Flickr quickly. They made sharing to Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter pretty seamless but there’s a noticeable absence of “share to Instagram”.

The new Flickr iPhone app is easy-to-use but is a pretty big departure from the older version so if you were familiar with it, there may be a bit of a learning curve. Flickr has posted a helpful walk-through of all the new features. From the app, you can access your photos, photostream and groups. You can moderate your groups and search for images or people. That’s a lot of action in one little app.

My one complaint is that their is still no support for checking FlickrMail from within the app. Clearly, the folks at Flickr have yet to figure out what a goldmine FlickrMail is. With the exception of “join this group requests”, it is a spam-free email account that only friends and family with Flickr accounts can access.

If you’re a current Flickr subscriber, you should have received a little gift from Flickr in your email recently. Clearly, they are trying to entice people back to the service so go and give them another shot. And tell them what you think. As paying subscribers, our voices and needs should be heard.

Happy snapping!

(For more about the new Flickr app, check out the Forbes write-up)