Learning 2.0 Activity #2 (Continued) - Flickr 

I have utilized Picasa for many years; the integration with Google (since it's a Google product) and the easy iPhoto upload satisfied my appetite for digital photo sharing.  Although now I have a Flickr account for this class, (you can view my photolibrary at http://www.flickr.com/photos/buffalostephanie/) I don't know that I would choose to use Flickr over Picasa.

First off, I don't know exactly how it happened, but in signing up for a Flickr account using my google account info, it somehow connected it to Yahoo.  I admit, I am one of those users that Krug refers to as a "muddler" and I might not have completely read through all the details at sign-up, but now Yahoo also has my info, and I'm not too cool with that (I like to keep my accounts to a manageable number).  Now back to the service itself, I find the Flickr home page (once you sign in) more cluttered and not exactly as intuitive as the streamlined Picasa home page.  Both services make it easy to send pics to blogger and twitter, but Flickr also offers the other major blogger tumblr plus facebook.  Most of the time when I post pictures to blogs, however, I simply use the email-to- post option (email directly to the blogging service), therefore bypassing the extra step of first uploading pictures to a photo sharing service first.

Both sites allow grouping and various levels of privacy for photo sharing, and you can keep up to date with your friends photos, although I find Picasa's method of "following" someone more intuitive than Flickr's adding someone as a "contact".  I tend to be more of a receptive or passive consumer of other people's photos - meaning that I don't search out friend's photos, so I find it convenient that Picasa will email you when someone you're following adds new photos (Flickr might do this, too - I've only added one contact so far).

The quality of photos on Flickr does appear to be more professional, so that could be a draw to enthusiasts or professionals looking for commercial opportunities.   For me, I just like to share pictures of travels or family with friends and family, and I gravitate towards the services that make it clear and easy.  So while Flickr does appear to have many features, I can't click on a tab at the top and go right to reading my email (gmail) or checking out my blog (blogger).  But never say never -who knows, I might be a Flickr convert after this class.