Last month saw rumours circulating (not for the first time) of Flickr adding video to their already massively popular photo sharing service.

Unlike every other time however, these proved to be true, and the new video elements were rolled out on the site yesterday.

Now, just one day later there seems to already be a rapidly growing group among Flickr users, who are against the move and want the site to remain dedicated to photography.

Videos Merely Moving Snapshots?

Flickr, however, views videos as “moving snapshots people take now that digital cameras can record video as well as still images, ” according to Terrell Karlsten Neilson, a spokeswoman for Flickr. 

Many forum visitors seemed to have differences in opinion dating months back on whether video should be added to the photo site, with many Pro users opting against it.

This seem quite ironic considering that the new video-uploading feature will only be available to those Pro users who pay the $25 a year fee. 

A Turn Off Function?

I don’t see why the big fuss though, because if a user is not interested in video, then that simply means that Yahoo should offer an option for users to “turn off” video so that they do not see (and cannot search for) any videos on the site after logging in. Doesn’t that seem like the simple way out to please everyone?

It is quite clear that the new video update is a ploy by Yahoo! to turn Flickr into a more profitable business, and I don’t blame them for that. That has been the mission since day one. Just give users a choice of whether they want to see it or not. 

No Competition To YouTube

As far as those who think that this is a plan to take on YouTube, Flickr’s policy for the new video feature stresses that users should only share videos they have taken themselves, as is already the policy for uploaded photographs. YouTube enforces no such restrictions. 

I can’t see users opting to pay $25 a year to upload short clips recorded from various media sources (as it the popular breed of video on YouTube) no longer than 90 seconds in length, when YouTube offers free account with no strict time limit on videos. 

Yahoo also has mentioned that it plans to strictly monitor the video submission to ensure that the guidelines are being followed.

Should videos be on Flickr or should it stick to its roots with photo-sharing?

This article is based on a Profy post written by Michael Garrett.

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