PR and the Social Web

So far the top ten has acknowledged the importance of blogging, digging and social networking.  Now it is the turn of photo-sharing.

Number 7: Flickr 

It was launched in 2004 and within three years claimed to hold in excess of two billion images.  At the start it was a way of collecting and sharing images ‘found’ on the web but very quickly users began to upload their own photographs.  

One of the most important features that Flickr introduced was the ability to tag images making them easier to find and organise.  Flickr also introduced the concept of ‘Interestingness’ a vital aspect of the site in both ranking images but making it more appealing for browsers.  Bloggers were quick to see the benefits of integrating with Flickr.  It allows low resolution images to be posted on a blog, facilitating faster loading but with the opportunity to click through to a high-resolution image hosted on Flickr.

Despite the size of Flickr there is a web 2.0 site that host even more images, but more of that as we progress through the top ten.