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iPhone usage metric for Flickr drops big time

by Mike Schramm Sep 15th 2009 at 12:30PM

We've posted before how popular the iPhone is as a camera on Flickr, with people uploading tons of photos, both shot by and straight from the iPhone. But now, The Next Web has covered a huge drop in photos referencing the iPhone over on the popular photo sharing site. The suspected culprit? Flickr themselves.

TNW suggests that the problem is the Flickr iPhone application, which will upload pictures straight to the service -- but not include metadata information like the fact that the pictures were taken with the iPhone. Still, even they sound a little skeptical: not all of that drop can be attributed to just the Flickr app's shortcomings. They also suggest that the iPhone is wearing out its welcome -- lots of people jumped to use it as a camera when the 3GS introduced a better lens and the video capability, and now in day-to-day use, they're not using it as much. Other commenters to the post suggest that the vastly improved Facebook app may be eating away at the use of the built-in Camera app.

I know that my photo habits for the phone haven't changed -- I use the iPhone quite a bit to take pictures, but looking at my own usage, I don't use Flickr nearly as much these days, as I use services like Twitpic and other sites built up directly around the iPhone. A drop in usage on Flickr doesn't mean people aren't using their iPhones to take snapshots -- they could just be sending their photos and media somewhere else.

Update: One of our commenters, echoed by our old friend & past colleague Barb Dybwad at Mashable, notes that Apple's change to the EXIF data recording for iPhone photos (breaking out the different iPhone models to indicate which specific phone took the picture) may be partly responsible for the drop.


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We've posted before how popular the iPhone is as a camera on Flickr, with people uploading tons of photos, both shot by and straight from...
 

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Alex in Amsterdam

Or maybe people are realizing what crappy photos the iPhone takes!

September 17 2009 at 4:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jollyllama

Flickr isn't great for the quickly sharing pictures of your friends last Saturday night purpose. Most people are using Facebook for that - Flickr is a better service for amateur photographers looking to hone skills by sharing with other amateur photographers. I use flickr as a kind of social portfolio service, while Facebook is for goofy shots.

September 15 2009 at 5:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
frank

quote: "I don't use Flickr nearly as much these days, as I use services like Twitpic and other sites built up directly around the iPhone."

^^this sums up my experience these days, too. i'm sure we're not alone.

September 15 2009 at 2:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
peter

It isn't just the Flickr app that is stripping out EXIF info. For example, I use the app Photogene alot, and it too (frustratingly!!) strips out which camera was used.

September 15 2009 at 2:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mike

I use Flickit on my 3GS and it imports the metadata and sends it with the photo.

September 15 2009 at 2:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mr kitty

I'd think flickr's overall stats -- or at least mobile usage stats -- would be essential for comparison.

Has their use gone down or growth slowed (as would be the case if Facebook / twitter services were eating away at their market share)?

September 15 2009 at 2:16 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Persaud

I would say, I'm posting less new photos to Flickr and more on Facebook (latest version of Facebook iPhone app has this new ability). Makes it easier to share with my friends.

September 15 2009 at 1:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mustangdco

Also, could be a big increase in higher-level cameras due to school starting up again and photography students all over beginning to upload images. That factor, coupled with the Facebook and Flickr apps, could result in the general downturn.

September 15 2009 at 1:20 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Matt

It's probably a combination of a lot of things, but I think mostly it's actually Apple.

As of the 3.1 OS update, Apple has started to append proper EXIF identification data to the different phone models. Photos uploaded by now say "iPhone", "iPhone 3G" or "iPhone 3GS".

You can see that on a photo page like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/indiekid/3913167034/

September 15 2009 at 1:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
david

This just in: TUAW reports old news

September 15 2009 at 1:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to david's comment
Greenie

No older than this comment, I assure you.

September 15 2009 at 1:54 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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