With its launch at ETCON [http://conferences.oreillynet.com/etech/] on February the 10th ‘FLICKR’ [http://flickr.com] offers a new medium for online communications.
Where FRIENDSTER, TRIBE and ORKUT have mounted a kind of Attack of the Clones, FLICKR stands out by not viewing social networking as an end in and of itself. Instead, a thorough social networking system serves as the backbone for a flexible browser based chat application.
And, in case you were wondering, it actually manages to have an API.
This hybrid nature accounts for a number of improvements over the current lot of Social Networking Services.
Points of Interest:
FLICKR’s most distinctive trait amongst Social Networking Services is its focus on real time chat and photo sharing. Launching the FLICKR Web Chat presents a clean user interface that allows you to build a contact list, instant message your friends or colleagues as well as upload images from your computer into a virtual ‘Shoebox’. From this container you can drag and drop the uploaded images into your various chat windows. You can email photos to your shoebox from a camera phone, and there are even a couple of one click systems to send images to your shoebox as you browse [http://www.flickr.com/sendto/]. This process is simple, intuitive and a heck of a lot of fun.
More than just fun, however, are FLICKRs abilities as a group organization tool.
Setting up a FLICKR group will create a discussion group on the ‘Group Page’, a unique channel in the Flash driven web chat, and the ability to send internal ‘Flickr Mail’ to all of your members. Most importantly, all these tools are cleanly consolidated into a single location, available to any computer with a browser. This could be a powerful tool for small groups to organise and converse consistently and in real time, without the mess of making sure that everyone is using the same IM client.
In other words, FLICKR has something to offer you even if you aren't trying to get laid.
Flickr acknowledges the complexities of online relationships. The option to acquaint, befriend, become best friends or soul mates that might at first appear a simple means to grade relationships, in fact has the potential to organize and prioritise contacts and control information flow - ideal for those who wish to balance openness with privacy. Flickr, in short, gives you the tools to trust some people more than others.
Unlike FRIENDSTER, TRIBE and ORKUT, FLICKR has an API [http://www.flickr.com/services/] that allows you to use 3rd party sites that incorporate your FLICKR user information and friends list.
What this means is that right now, with a minimum of fuss, a developer can hook their web application into FLICKR. This allows users to seamlessly move, safely and securely, from the FLICKR environment into other services that make use of your friends list, gallery and group information. *The intent here is to avoid the need to constantly re-invite your friends to each new web service you encounter* – Where you go, your social network follows.
The best working example of this is REVIEWR [http://www.reviewr.com], a service that uses both the FLICKR and AMAZON API. First the user logs into FLICKR, then moves along to the REVIEWR site, which recognizes the user and authenticates that they are logged into FLICKR. Once inside, the user can write reviews on books and movies from the AMAZON catalogue, and read reviews from people on their FLICKR friends list.
There are currently plans to integrate FOAF data [http://www.foaf-project.org/] into the api, which should expand these capabilities, and the FLICKR developers have shown keen interest in fostering 3rd party applications.
LIMITATIONS:
It will be interesting to see if users keep making the ACTIVE decision to load FLICKR whenever they start up their machines. FLICKR must also load all of its chat windows into the browser environment, which reduces flexibility in managing them. That said, FLICKR’s Browser/Flash makes it essentially cross platform, and accessible to any internet ready computer. Additionally, FLICKR is in beta, and certain elements could use some more polish. Most notably the discussion forums and group galleries could be more robust in allowing for sub threading and editing.
IN CONCLUSION:
It may be unfair to compare FLICKR to FRIENDSTER and its ilk, as FLICKR’s real time chat and photo swapping focus might draw closer parallels to IRC. Perhaps it is better to think of it in this light, and think about the advantages [and disadvantages?] connecting such a communications medium to social networking systems might present.
Ultimately, Flickr does two things. It makes forming online groups simpler, and it makes online chat more fun. To those interested in either, it may be worth a spin.
If you are interested it trying it out, register and then join the FLICKR
kuro5hin.org group at: http://www.flickr.com/groups_view.gne?id=35034353173@N01