Flickr launched a new video feature on their photo-sharing site which was greatly anticipated and had been promised for over a year. This considerable extension allows pro users (being a pro user costs $25 a year) to upload videos with length of 90 second and 150 MB size. Viewing is available for both free and pro users. Videos are shown as thumbnails alongside photos in the albums and look like photos on pages which include them.
Just like photos videos can be made public or private, searched by tags and descriptions and uploaded directly from camera phones. The short clips can also be shared/embedded individually or as part of sets.
The ability to play the videos from the thumbnail screens or the permanent page for the video is another great feature.
Flickr explains that the idea behind the new feature is not to have people uploading long videos or clips of copyrighted material. The short clips are a perfect complement to the photos. Flickr finds great differentiation between Video.Yahoo.com and Flickr. In their opinion Yahoo.com is all about broadcast, but Flickr is more about personal authentic clips.
Created by the former game designers Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake, Flickr blossomed into one of the premier photo-sharing sites on the web. Yahoo! purchased Flickr for $35 million in March of 2005. Since then Flickr has been gaining popularity and attracting many enthusiasts to start loading and sharing pictures. Users have the option to track where and when photos were taken, to tag and comment on pictures, as well asthe ability to create postcards and other products.
The new feature for sure will make the growing Flickr’s community more devoted and addicted to its favorite place for sharing personal photos and from recently short clips.