Flickr and Getty

I'm obviously a Flickr addict and love photography. I'm also a business man and of all the web-based services I use regularly Flickr is the one that has always mystified me. They started with a great idea and then - they did NOTHING. Last year they added video in a completely lame attempt to do what???? compete with YouTube? I think it was a waste of money and hasn't gained traction. All the while the low hanging fruit was left to ripen. Maybe now it is on to the rotting stage.

But Corazon Girl twittered today about possible moves Flickr is making to connect at least certain users with Getty Images. Flickr has attracted a large community of very talented photographers yet provides no marketplace for their work. Worse yet Flickr, in spite of their terms of usage and ability to have user's mark their work as copyright etc., virtually facilitates, via their API, the inappropriate and illegal use of photos. As you know it is hard to do a search for a photo someone may have downloaded and stolen for inappropriate use. Yet nearly anyone who posts much on Flickr encounters it on a regular basis. Obviously it is a rampant problem and has been a great source of tension between serious amateurs and professionals and Flickr.

Although I'd be delighted to be paid for photography it's not a focus for me so this isn't a critical issue at the personal level. But I'd love to see Flickr do something to put some teeth behind Copyright and Creative Commons while at the same time making it easy for people to make legitimate use of the great photos on Flickr.

Maybe now that a business person is taking over Yahoo more attention will be paid to monetizing, in a win-win way, properties like Flickr.