DISQUS

Great comparison piece Dave. There is a conversation going on about this over on FF too if you are interested. http://friendfeed.com/e/07917f2c-56ef-fdae-7da3...

Congrats on the new opportunity Dave. Whatever it is and whoever it's with they will be lucky to be working with you. Looking forward to hearing more about it.

What's RSS? You mean that thingy before FriendFeed back in the olden days?

I disagree. The hide feature dramatically reduces noise on FriendFeed as opposed to Twitter or other services. I'm spending more and more of my time there.

I don't care if the conversation takes place on my blog or wherever. it's just fun that it takes place. I love FriendFeed. It's orgasmicly terrific. Well maybe not ograsmicly. But it's pretty cool.

What a great post. I'll have to think about my own when I've got a moment. One thing I have noticed blogging over the past 4 years or so is that how I consume social media changes so rapidly all the time. It seems that new social media tools are coming out almost daily. FriendFeed has done more to help me consume social media than anything in the past year, but two months ago I wasn't even using it.

I think one thing that those who consume social media most efficiently get is that change is indeed good. And that you have to condition yourself to begin trying new things (even if only to throw them out after a few tries) as quickly as they come out and as quickly as you can.

Nice post Louis.

I have 7,329 contacts on Flickr. I add most people who add me as a contact as a contact back. The reason is simple. Reciprocation. If folks are checking out my photos I want to check out there.

I have a lot less "friends" (477) on Flickr and have really only designated those people as friends who I really know or people whose photography I really really dig.

With Flickr when you look at your contact's most recent photos it pushes the most active contacts to the front of the queue. Because when I add someone I don't always know if they are an active photographer on the site or not, this helps me to stay on top of the most active of my contacts in the community.

I get a lot of faves on Flickr, but I try to give out as many as I get. In fact I've faved over 27,000 photos on the site by others that I really do enjoy and like. Frequently I'll go to my recent activity stream specifically to see who has been looking at my stuff and I'll make a point to go look at theirs.

Sometimes there are tools built into a site like Flickr that allow you to use the adding contacts functionality functionally. Sometimes it's more than just a numbers thing.

I lost a little faith in Obama after hearing his weak response to his marijuana use. Not that the Clintons are any better. Even though Obama admits that he inhaled and enjoyed it, it would seem that the only thing he did right was not get caught. Had he been arrested for smoking pot would he be any less effectual a Presidential Candidate? And yet an arrest on his record for pot would likely do his campaign in.

Obama is as hypocritical as the rest of them. Intellectually he can certainly see that pot is no worse than alcohol and yet because he knows it's not politically popular to support decriminalizing marijuana he would arrest those in the future who did the very same thing he did as a kid.

Now that's real hypocrisy.

Although Mike Gravel is a fringe Democratic candidate, that's where my vote is going. He has the balls to step up and tell it like it is. That rather than continuing to crowd our jails with people arrested for minor pot charges we ought to just do the smart thing and decriminalize it, tax it, and sell it down at the local liquor store.

Obama knows from his own pot experience that this is what ought to be done but he'd rather abandon the black community that is devastated by the war on drugs to say the politically popular thing. I just can't support that. In the race with the Clintons he may in fact be the lesser of two evils, but his position on pot use only firmly shows that his act is as much politics as usual as any of them.

Karoli, so nice to finally meet you in person. I had a great time. This was my favorite photowalk so far. You and DG make great silhouettes by the way!

Best,

Tom

Very cool.  Especially love the part when day turns to night and the night shots!  Nice!

For what it's worth my involvement with Flickr will certainly be winding down. At least for the short-term. I've decided to stop posting my photographs on the site. This after posting every day for 2 years, almost 1.7 million views and over 40,000 comments.


I've also decided to quit looking at and engaging with photos of other Flickr members. And to quit any conversations in the general groups with Flickr membership.



I'm still keeping my account and will hang out with my Pals in Deleteme Uncensored (a group ironically that Flickr won't allow you to see unless you are logged into your Flickr account, as we've been somehow coded "unacceptable" for non Yahoo eyes).



But my activity at Flickr will drop dramatically.



More than anything this is due to the fact that over the course of the past month Flickr has stopped being fun for me. The recent censorship thing was a catalyst, but really underneath it all Flickr has turned from one of the intense joys in my life into something miserable in my life. Much of the passion that I've felt for Flickr over the course of the last 2 years is very much dead.

The scary part here is that you seem to have gambled everything on something you don't believe in.


I'm not quite sure how anyone could read what I wrote and come to the conclusion that I don't believe in Zooomr.



I passionately believe in Zooomr. In the community. In the people that make it what it is. In advancing and bettering the landscape for photographers.



You miss the point entirely. Jake. But that's ok too.



We are doing something amazing for photography. Zooomr is trying to redefine the $2.5 billion stock photography market in favor of photographers. We are trying to open up the fine art market to all photographers. We want to run physical galleries and publish books and magazines and make the world an amazingly beautiful place with pictures.



You don't know anything about the Zooomr community because you are not a part of it. It is in fact one of the most vibrant communities on the internet today.



Take a look at this video by Randyman. Randyman spent a bunch of his own money printing up half a million Zooomr stickers for our users. Randyman did this because he *is* a part of our community and understands what we're doing.



It doesn't bother me that you don't. That you'd like to make this about business and marketing speak.



Zooomr's business prospects are the least of my concern. Zooomr will be financially successful. Quite financially successful actually. But we will get there by embracing our community, being transparent, being honest. Well get there by treating the people that use our site with dignity and respect and always looking out for their interest.



I don't think you will need to worry about me on Flickr anymore by the way. I made a decision yesterday to largely eject myself from the service -- except for the deleteme uncensored forum where I hang out with my pals.



One thing I will say about you Jake is that at least you have the balls to sign your name to this criticism. And despite my replies I have a great deal of respect for your opinion and have taken much of what you've said to heart. Which is more than I can say for the anonymous posters coming from Yahoo IP addresses that take their potshots without acknowledging their clear conflict of interest.

Hi Roger. Thanks for your post on Zooomr. It is amazing the way the community has come together to support Zooomr. We are deeply indebted to so many. Robert Scoble. Zoho. Dell. Sun Microsystems. But even more than these companies and individuals. The Zooomr community is a passionate group of photographers.

Recently one of our photographers Randyman, on his own nickel printed up 500,000 stickers on our behalf. It's an amazing thing really. You should check out the video.

http://blog.zooomr.com/2007/06/16/more-video-greatness-from-randyman/

Randy is one of many people who believe and care passionately about Zooomr. Zooomr is *not* your typical photo sharing site. We are a site built by and for photographers to make the world a better place for photography.

We have big plans. We want to open up the world of stock photography to all. We want to create new ways for photographers to sell their work. To share their work. To interact with each other from a social perspective.

By broadcasting live on uStream. Holding regular live chats with our photographers. Personally answering blogs and interacting directly with our community we are probably the most transparent company in the Web 2.0 space at present.

When Zooomr marks our 100 millionth photo or our millionth member or any other milestones as we move forward, I believe, it will be because of this community that we are all a part of. And if anything this will be the legacy that Zooomr leaves more than any other. Love the people who use your site. Respect them. Communicate with them. And always work on their behalf with their best interests in mind.

This is how people like Craig Newmark built craigslist. And this is how Zooomr will survive. The goodwill that Zooomr receives is directly due to the love of the community.

Thanks again for blogging about Zooomr.

Thomas Hawk
CEO, Zooomr

Jake, I emailed you a comment for posting because your web form was not working for my comment.

Jake, I tried to respond but I ran out of characters due to your comment form character limit.


I'll just point you to this comment I recently left on my blog instead. I wouldn't expect you to understand because you haven't been part of the Flickr Community in the same way that I have. I do appreciate your criticism and feedback though.



http://thomashawk.com/2007/06/update-on-censorship-problem-on-flickr.html#1211174743702474165

Thomas Hawk - Unless you are dealing with easily confused folks that somehow read Amazon pages better than others, I recommend you link them to www.powells.com as previously mentioned. Only one link as you prefer as well.

Chad, and what is Powell's doing in return for people like Scott and I and others who choose to promote artists online? Are they paying Scott a referral fee? Are they paying me a referral fee? Are they in any way supporting the online efforts that might suggest them as an option? Is it that local small blogs and websites are not important enough for them or is it that they'd prefer to keep all of the profit themselves.

And what about things that are not sold at Powells? Is it up to the blogger to try to create a hodgepodge of places to build a store that won't pay him referral fees?

I have no problem with Powells, but if they want to build the infrastructure for an online store with referral fees then I'm sure they'd be considered.

Trust me on this one, if more of us drive business to the local bookstores instead of amazon, we can hold onto the few we have left even longer!

And if the local bookstore can build a competitive referral program for people like Scott and other small community bloggers then we can also hold onto the few samll internet site operators we have even longer. But to expect Scott to refer this traffic and that there is no responsibility for the small independent stores to in turn support his operation is not right.

Amazon built a product that works, that pays a fair referral fee, that is comprehensive and complete and offers the small blogger or site a way to help sustain their long term viability. When something else is more compelling let me know.

Scott Beale has done more to support the San Francisco underground arts community online than anyone. He supports local artists and promotes them. Has been doing so for years. Fact of the matter is that it costs money to publish a website like this not to mention put in the hours and hours and hours of work that Scott has for years to support the community.

Trust me, all of these so called "local" independent bookstores clear far, far, more cash than Scott does on his blog.

I find it offensive that naysayers would pop out of the woodwork to try to malign Scott over his online store. Personally I think it's a damn good idea. And I think it's a great resource for Scott to help give even more support to the artists that he supports and recommends. I like this idea so much that I might even build a store myself after reading this.

Amazon offers an easy central place with an amazing breadth of product to build a store like this. If independent bookstores want to get together and build something like this themselves then more power to them and I'm sure Scott would consider it if it was comparable to Amazon. But just because Amazon is "online" and not a local bookstore doesn't make them evil.

I support local artists whenever I can. I bought Troy Paiva's excellent book "Lost America" at his photo opening last Friday night in Alameda. I like buying things directly from artists when I know the money is going directly into their pocket. But you know what? When I blogged about his show I put a link in there to his book on Amazon.com (just like he does on his website) because it's an easy way for more people to discover his work, buy his book, and support him in the end. If I didn't link to Amazon many people might be too lazy to get down and try to search for it at 10 local bookstores none of which probably carry it.

Ain't nothing wrong with what Scott's doing here.

Power to the people, power to the artists, and keep on doing that thing you do Scott Beale.

Thomas Hawk

Thinking about whether or not to get salmon on my bagel or not this morning... tough decision.

OMG, I just saw Jeremy Toeman in line at Starbucks....

Hey, even though you couldn't make it, thanks for blogging it. You definitely were there in spirit.

Stay tuned for many more community features coming down the road shortly with Zooomr. We plan on rolling out many of these with our next major release, Mark III.

Best,

Tom

Hey, thanks much Scott. Had a great time!

Hey Scott, also the Ferry Building has free wi-fi so anyone can connect up.

Best,

Tom

Fantastic color on this one. Thanks for joining Zooomr!

Me: So you mean like I can just see ads any time I want, without commericals that TiVo saves to my hard drive for me?

TiVo: YES!

Me: And did I hear right that exciting names like General Motors, Sony Pictures, Lending Tree (ohhh ahhh) and yes, Kraft Foods are amongst some of the first ads I'll be able to watch on my TiVo?

TiVo: Yep, that's right.

Me: Uhhhhhhh, no thanks. Hey, when's that new Series 3 Standalone HDTV unit coming out anyways?

A better approach to Flickr via MCE is to install the program Slickr. You can then point Slickr to your favorites stream, your own stream, your favorite Flickr member (hint Thomas Hawk), etc.

Slickr will then act as a screen saver for where you point it. But what it also can do is pull down high res images of whatever you point it to at Flickr. These then get saved in a Slickr folder that you can just point MCE to for Flickr type slide shows.

http://thomashawk.com/2006/03/hot-donkey-introd...

Good work Pal! Keep up the good shooting. Good catching up with you finally the other night. You've got so many great shots. Love the portrait of Chu.