Our work in the sphere of Social Media Optimisation is growing by the day. This is due, in no small part, to the fact that the sphere of social media is growing by the day!

As discussed elsewhere on this blog, the article submission sites like Digg and Stumbleupon are great for generating site visits and links. We
A few of the more established sites built up without the hoohah that now seems to be associated with anything driven by user content. Way before Youtube, for example, there was Flickr.

Flickr was, and remains, the daddy of photo sharing websites. Even before it was purchased by Yahoo!, it was the definitive place to post your pics online, for all the world (or just friends and family) to see. It is testament to the quality of the original idea that Yahoo has now removed their own photosharing site to focus energies entirely on Flickr.

I have been using Flickr for a couple of years now. If you are interested you can check out my photos here.

What is impressive about Flickr is that, unlike many of the new social media sites, they have a great way of making money: they allow you to post 200 photos for free, after which you must upgrade to a paid-for, “pro” account. Becuase Flickr is the definitive photo sharing site, nobody begrudges them the $25 per year for a pro account.

They also offer prints, which are delivered to your door.

Another nice thing about Flickr is that users seem to avoid the “idiot comment syndrome” that affects a large number of sites driven by user content. Most comments that people make are either praise or constructive criticism. If you don’t believe this, check for yourself!

Many people who used to post pictures on Flickr migrated to facebook, wooed by the option of tagging other users. Unsurprisingly, this hasn’t diluted the quality of images on Flickr at all. And how much money does Facebook actually make?

From an SMO (social media optimisation) point of view, Flickr is a great way of adding depth and personality to your site. Do not underestimate the power of an “About Us” section on a website… with so much business done through email and phonecalls now, business is becoming increasingly impersonal. How often do we actually meet with our clients?

One way of adding some personality to a site is to give access to your social media pages. My Flickr photos are there to be seen. Hopefully they give a little insight into who I am (or at least where I drink in Brighton!).

Flickr is one of the great sites on the net. It gives (over 2 billion images are currently hosted there), asks no more than you are willing to give and offers a strong community of like minded snappers around the world. If you haven’t already, you should check it out.