Flickr Turns 10: The Photo-Sharing Site’s Rise, Fall and Revival

It’s hard to imagine an internet without Flickr, but 10 years ago was the first time the service saw the day of light.

Earlier photo sites were mostly concerned with letting you put your pictures in front of friends and family. Flickr did that, too. But from the start, it was building a community of photo lovers around the world who wanted to share images with other photo lovers, as well as thousands of special interest sub-communities. It was about storytelling.

Through thick and thin, the community has always been one of Flickr’s primary strengths. There is an insane amount of groups catering to every nuance of photography to the intricate details of architecture and the joy of snapping that perfect family photo.

According to Spiering, today’s Flickr has more than 10 billion photos (vs. more than 250 billion on Facebook — but who ever said quantity trumps quality?). It hosts 1.8 million groups, which are being joined by 50,000 new members a day.

Stats like this really put things in perspective and it says something about the serious infrastructure and engineering that stands behind the site.

I have been a pro member for years and enjoy the automatic uploading of photos through the Flickr iOS app on a daily basis. Together with Flickring I can instantly access any photo I have ever taken with my iPhone and my regular camera. It is perfect as a replacement or in combination with iCloud.