Flickr and Webshots – A classic web2.0 case

eirikso
WebShots vs Flickr

Alexa is a web site that tracks traffic over time. The data from Alexa is collected from the people running the alexa toolbar in their browser, and in general that is enough to give a quite reliable picture of how a site is doing.

You can also compare charts, and the chart that shows the traffic rank of the popular photo sharing site Webshots vs. the chart of the relatively new but much hyped and right now just as popular service called Flickr is a very interesting illustration.

Webshots started as a general photo sharing site in 1999 and are celebrating their 10th anniversary as a brand these days (they started out as a professional service around 1995). Flickr emerged around february 2004. So, how come that a new site with a name that is difficult to spell and impossible to pronounce can rival Webshots after less than two years? It is difficult to say exactly why Flickr has this fantastic success. But, as it has been discussed all over the web as people realize this interesting and relatively new service – there are some properties of Flickr that is a good example of the successful web 2.0 service:

– A system that is easy to understand
– A clean interface with focus on usability
– Social functions like tagging, groups, commenting, evaluations and friends
– RSS feeds for everything
– An open API

The high usability grabs even your mother as a user. RSS feeds and an open API give them cred and collect users from the tech savvy digerati. The social network and possibility to create communities make both your mother and the geeky neighbour happy.

And while you’re here, please vote for my blog in the Norwegian competition that wants to elect the best technology blog in norway: Now I really need your help 🙂

Update:
Thomas Hawk has extended this article with more thoughts on the comparison of WebShots and Flickr here.

Update2:
Narendra Rocheroll has some interesting issues as well. Definitely worth a read.

Update3:
Due to a heavy load of spam on this post I have closed the comments and trackbacks.

Flickr and Webshots – A classic web2.0 case

18 thoughts on “Flickr and Webshots – A classic web2.0 case”

  1. Weights and Measures: Flickr vs. Photobucket

    [Full disclosure: I was a founder of Webshots, and actively engaged in building the core product until the beginning of 2005 when I finished up my tenure with CNET experimenting with things like the shoebox. Since August, I have been busy building a s…

  4. Webshots vs. Flickr

    An interesting post on the growth of Flickr compared to Webshots. The author lists a number of reasons for Flickr’s success (tagging, API, clean interface, etc.). I wonder how Web Shots would have faired with some, but not all of those component…

  5. Webshots contra Flickr – web 1.0 contra web 2.0

    Einer der ältesten Fotosharing-Dienste im Web ist Webshots. Lange Zeit unglaublich erfolgreich (mit über 200 Mio gespeicherten Fotos) und vor nicht allzu langer Zeit von CNET gekauft. Doch die Tage von Webshots scheinen gezählt: Flickr, erst letzte…

  8. Flickr vs. Webshots

    Thomas Hawk, a Flickr fan who writes a technology blog at thomashawk.com, recently linked to an interesting post by Norwegian engineer and blogger Eirik Solheim, who compared Flickr — the former Vancouver-based photo site that is now part of th…

  11. […] Special thanks go to: First of all the person that entered my blog into the competition! I didn’t know about this competition before I saw the traffic from Dagbladet… Then Oyvind at Brilliantdays for huge amounts of knowledge and a link to my post trying to convince people to vote for me. Ian over at The Media Center Show for mentioning me on the show! Thomas Hawk for nice compliments and a link in his excellent post about my short comparison of Flickr and Webshots. […]

  14. […] I post an article on the fact that the popular picture sharing service called Flickr just passed the market leader Webshots in traffic. Suggesting some reasons for the success of Flickr. The founder of Webshots, Narenda Rocherolle trackbacks to my blog and also comments on another service called Photobucket. Representatives directly from Photobucket comments on Narenda’s site. It’s interesting how it’s possible to reach important representatives and start a discussion at a high level trough web publishing. […]

  15. […] I admit it – I’m addicted to Alexa. Through data gathered by their Internet Explorer toolbar, Alexa attempts to rank the popularity of web sites along various metrics. Tech pundits love to point to Alexa stats when drinking the Kool Aid (or proclaiming the death of a service). Two great recent examples are Digg vs. Slashdot and Flickr vs. Webshots. It’s a bit like sizing up boxers before a fight just by the numbers, genesis of the the famous saying “the tale of the tape”. […]

  17. […] Eirik Solheim’s blog “about Home Theatre PC’s, the media industry, travel, food, drink, the universe and everything (in that order)”, has an interesting post comparing the fortunes (well, traffic) of photosharing old hand http://www.webshots.com with newcomer http://www.flickr.com. Eirik picks up on some of the features of Flickr that may have led to its success: […]

  18. […] Darwinism on the web? November 29th, 2005 Eirik Solheim’s blog “about Home Theatre PC’s, the media industry, travel, food, drink, the universe and everything (in that order)”, has an interesting post comparing the fortunes (well, traffic) of photosharing old hand http://www.webshots.com with newcomer http://www.flickr.com. Eirik picks up on some of the features of Flickr that may have led to its success: […]

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