Guide Note

Flickr is a photo and video sharing website and online community. It allows users to post, tag, organize and share photos and videos. Many users opt for a "Pro" account which gives them more storage space and available photo sets. The service has become a favorite among bloggers for sharing photos with friends and image hosting. Since Flickr includes some social network features such as profiles and friend networks its rather easy to follow your friends latest photo updates. Flickr was acquired by Yahoo! in 2005.

Fast Facts

1. An early "Web 2.0" participant
2. Hosts 2 billion-plus images (as of Feb. '08)
3. Launched in February 2004 by Ludicorp, the company founded by Canadian entrepreneur Stewart Butterfield and his wife Caterina Fake

Flickr Video was launched in April 2008 and extended the web site services to include video hosting. This service is only available to Pro (paid) users and is limited to 90 seconds in length and/or 150 megabytes in size.

In June 2007 there was a controversy regarding an update to the Flickr website. While adding the ability for users to rate photos Flickr also limited what photos users in specific countries could view (based on their rating). While some of these limitations have been loosened users located in Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Korea are still unable to view some "moderate" or "restricted" rated photos.