Thoughts on the new Flickr redesign...

If you are new to this piece of news - first go here: http://www.flickr.com/new

So, May 20th has come and gone and Flickr now offers 1 TB of free storage to "everyone". Yes, this does mean that the free users don't have the puny 200 photos total / 100 MB limitation anymore.

However, what does it mean for a photography enthusiast, like me?

a) this race towards who gives the maximum storage is cool indeed, but at what cost? Most of the current paying members (myself included) won't feel the need to pay for pro anymore. $49.99 is a steep proposition just to get out of ads (thanks adblock). The first thing that I did this morning was to cancel my pro. I see this as an opportunity missed compared to say, 500px or something who offer you portfolio management alongside. A company which pioneered personal web hosting (with GeoCities) should have definitely made some attempts in this area. Maybe, there is a conflict of interest on this photo-blogging space with Tumblr?

b) The main reason that I stuck around in Flickr was not the unlimited storage space - but the community. Not the individual users, but a "community". It is really sad that they haven't taken any steps in that area to control the farcical "Post 1, Award 100" things that Flickr has now become from the very good knowledge sharing, meetup friendly things that they were.

So in essence, once the wow factor of the 1TB thing goes away, I don't think that Flickr has done enough to survive. The ghostland - google+ - gives me about the same, if not better engagement most of the times.