Comments on: The curious decline of free photo sharing http://blogs.smugmug.com/baldy/2006/09/25/the-curious-decline-of-free-photo-sharing/ Stuff in Baldy's SmugMug life Sat, 06 Sep 2008 05:23:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6-bleeding2 By: Smugging Our Mug « Enjoying the Journey http://blogs.smugmug.com/baldy/2006/09/25/the-curious-decline-of-free-photo-sharing/#comment-38938 Smugging Our Mug « Enjoying the Journey Sun, 20 Jan 2008 03:59:30 +0000 http://blogs.smugmug.com/baldy/2006/09/25/the-curious-decline-of-free-photo-sharing/#comment-38938 [...] That often meant that we were overlooked by the press and didn’t garner as much attention from bloggers and journalistic Websites as some of our competitors. That is beginning to change as they are beginning to take notice of a photo-sharing Website that is prospering in a world normally dominated by “free” sites. [...] [...] That often meant that we were overlooked by the press and didn’t garner as much attention from bloggers and journalistic Websites as some of our competitors. That is beginning to change as they are beginning to take notice of a photo-sharing Website that is prospering in a world normally dominated by “free” sites. [...]

]]> By: Badri http://blogs.smugmug.com/baldy/2006/09/25/the-curious-decline-of-free-photo-sharing/#comment-14821 Badri Tue, 06 Feb 2007 06:50:27 +0000 http://blogs.smugmug.com/baldy/2006/09/25/the-curious-decline-of-free-photo-sharing/#comment-14821 The 'free' revolution started with the emails and has not stopped since. I am amazed at the proliferation of sites and services that proclaim themselves as 'Free' and no wonder we see the demise of several such characters every now and then. The hope (ab initio) of the founders seems to be acquired by a deep-pocketed player rather than be in the run for a long haul! Keep up the good work, guys! The ‘free’ revolution started with the emails and has not stopped since. I am amazed at the proliferation of sites and services that proclaim themselves as ‘Free’ and no wonder we see the demise of several such characters every now and then. The hope (ab initio) of the founders seems to be acquired by a deep-pocketed player rather than be in the run for a long haul!

Keep up the good work, guys!

]]> By: Miles Burke http://blogs.smugmug.com/baldy/2006/09/25/the-curious-decline-of-free-photo-sharing/#comment-11901 Miles Burke Tue, 16 Jan 2007 12:45:46 +0000 http://blogs.smugmug.com/baldy/2006/09/25/the-curious-decline-of-free-photo-sharing/#comment-11901 Oh so true, I hadn't even considered it like that before. Everyone seems set on tripping over each other to offer free accounts, but they pay in the long run. Oh so true, I hadn’t even considered it like that before. Everyone seems set on tripping over each other to offer free accounts, but they pay in the long run.

]]> By: Kord Campbell http://blogs.smugmug.com/baldy/2006/09/25/the-curious-decline-of-free-photo-sharing/#comment-2245 Kord Campbell Mon, 02 Oct 2006 22:27:53 +0000 http://blogs.smugmug.com/baldy/2006/09/25/the-curious-decline-of-free-photo-sharing/#comment-2245 I totally agree with your assessment on the paid vs. free model. At Zoto we get a ton of people uploading content that clearly violates our terms of service, and we have regularly cruise the site to delete/hide it when it gets really bad. You aren't going to have that when people pay for a service, or at the worst it will be a rare event. I bet you a $1 that you guys have *more* paid accounts than Flickr. I also bet that the paid Flickr accounts don't make a profit for Flickr on the whole. There is simply no way that Flickr would have been as large as they are today without significant financial influx, which would require additional investment an exit path - like being acquired by Yahoo. Same story with Webshots – they were acquired by CNet. It's great that both were acquired, and still can offer free accounts, but it doesn't work for the rest of us. In November we are moving Zoto to a paid only model because of all of what has been stated here. Thanks for the confirmation of what we had already arrived at ourselves! I totally agree with your assessment on the paid vs. free model. At Zoto we get a ton of people uploading content that clearly violates our terms of service, and we have regularly cruise the site to delete/hide it when it gets really bad. You aren’t going to have that when people pay for a service, or at the worst it will be a rare event.

I bet you a $1 that you guys have *more* paid accounts than Flickr. I also bet that the paid Flickr accounts don’t make a profit for Flickr on the whole. There is simply no way that Flickr would have been as large as they are today without significant financial influx, which would require additional investment an exit path - like being acquired by Yahoo. Same story with Webshots – they were acquired by CNet. It’s great that both were acquired, and still can offer free accounts, but it doesn’t work for the rest of us.

In November we are moving Zoto to a paid only model because of all of what has been stated here.

Thanks for the confirmation of what we had already arrived at ourselves!

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