100,000 Viewers on Google vs. 14+ Million Views on Flickr; Where Do We Go From Here? — IMRAN®

100,000 Viewers on Google vs. 14+ Million Views on Flickr; Where Do We Go From Here? — IMRAN®

A late night notification from Google caught me off guard pleasantly: over 100,000 people have viewed the handful of photos I’ve posted there only recently. That’s less than 1% of what I’ve shared on Flickr—where I’ve amassed 14+ million views over nearly 20 years. But let’s not confuse metrics. 

Google counted viewers, Flickr counts views. One is pure generic global reach, the other is fewer but with many loyal viewers over the years. It’s a moment to reflect—not just on numbers, but on platforms and squandered potential.

Microsoft let Skype rot on the vine. IMHO, WhatsApp and its clones wouldn’t have been necessary if Skype’s global community hadn’t been mismanaged into oblivion. Yahoo did the same with Flickr. Instagram might’ve remained a footnote had Yahoo not fumbled its head start—first under Jerry’s indecision, then under Marissa Mayer’s overhyped tenure.

Today’s Flickr is a shadow of its heyday. I recently scrolled through its primitive messaging system—still a stream of unthreaded, individual messages spanning hundreds of screens—to revisit my earliest interactions. Most of those accounts are gone. Others haven’t posted in a decade. Many have deleted their entire libraries, including non-erotic content, just to comply with Flickr’s shifting paid account policies.

In a world of uncensored paid platforms, wildly popular free PG-13 services, and even Google’s passive hosting options, it’s increasingly difficult to justify the steep annual cost of a Flickr Pro subscription.

So I ask: What are your thoughts? What’s your plan? Where do we, and Flickr, go from here? 

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