This Holiday Is Flickr's Chance To Shine

Flickr has given all of its members three months of free subscription to Flickr Pro. The subscription allows members access to every photo they've ever uploaded to Flickr, as opposed to just their last 200 photos for holders of free accounts, as well as access to features not available otherwise. This gesture came following the release of Flickr's revamped iOS app which adds filters and photo editing functions courtesy of photo startup Aviary.

When Flickr released its completely revamped iOS app recently, it provided a significant reason for Flickr members to share their photos using the service. The added filters and editing abilities  gave the app a huge boost in utility, but the app itself may not be enough of an incentive to draw people back to Flickr. Saturday's offer however should provide the much needed push for people to return to Flickr and enjoy the full mobile Flickr experience.

Flickr Pro allows members to upload as many photos and high definition videos as they like, access their entire collection beyond the last 200 entries, post photos in up to 60 groups as opposed to 10, and download high resolution originals whenever required.

It's clear that Flickr expects the combination of a redesigned app and the three month free subscription to entice people to use Flickr ahead of other competing photo sharing services such as Facebook, Instagram, 500px, and others.

Flickr's fall Over the last few years, Flickr's popularity has waned as Facebook became the primary service on which people share their photos. Instagram's rise to dominate mobile photo sharing further undermined Flickr's status as the pioneer photo sharing service on the Internet.

As Flickr persists with its $25 yearly subscription fee, combined with a lackluster mobile app and a roller coaster ride through Yahoo's numerous management changes, the distinct lack of leadership and vision to steer the service through a rapidly changing Internet landscape has cost Flickr much in terms of activity, user acquisition, mindshare, and the all important revenue.

Facebook due to its ubiquity had become the number one photo sharing site. Instagram's filters and ease of use had made it the top mobile photo sharing app. However, neither wouldn't have been as successful if they were paid services to begin with. They might have still been popular but unlikely to be anywhere near the level that they enjoy now.

Rights to intellectual property Flickr's subscription scheme may have put it on the back foot with regards to popularity but it frees Flickr Pro members from direct advertising and lets people control the rights that they have over their own images and videos posted to the site. Flickr even provides two ways for all of its members to license their works, either through Creative Commons or through Getty Images. Neither Instagram nor Facebook provide such avenues.

Regular members do see banner ads though and Yahoo does have advertising solutions for those interested in reaching Flickr users although the numbers are more than a year old and due for a serious update for the sake of relevance.

While we're on the subject of licensing and intellectual property rights, this is Yahoo's terms of service which also applies to Flickr. Article 9 section b states that you agree to grant Yahoo a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free rights to the following if you submit photos and videos to the public areas:

With respect to photos, graphics, audio or video you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Yahoo! Services other than Yahoo! Groups, the license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such Content on the Yahoo! Services solely for the purpose for which such Content was submitted or made available.

This is a much more user-friendly term than what Instagram has ironically been forced to use which is the right to place advertising directly on your images, instead of only associating your images with advertisers. Yes, Instagram has that right and will continue to have that right thanks to the uproar of the misinformed public and media.

Going forward Though it remains a major player in photo sharing, since the shift to mobile, Flickr has failed to capture the consumer mindshare. Fortunately under the guidance of current Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, there seems to be a greater emphasis on consumer products and the drive to recapture Yahoo's former glory appears very visible. The launch of Flickr's refreshed mobile app combined with the holiday promotion are clear evidence towards that goal.

These announcements couldn't have come at a better time as we enter the end of year holiday period in which people will certainly share a massive amount of photos. On top of that, the situation that Instagram has found itself in, thanks to its botched announcement of its proposed terms of service, had people seeking alternative mobile photo sharing sites. Flickr can probably thank Instagram for its impending spike in usage over the next three months.

In three months, it will be apparent how effective this holiday promotion turn out to be but given the superb mobile app that it has just launched, the licensing terms that are afforded by Flickr, the sharing options and the communities that exist within Flickr, Yahoo should see a significant uptick in fully paid Pro membership adoption.

If you haven't redeemed your free three months of Flickr Pro, you can activate it here. Existing Pro members will have three months added to the end of their current membership periods.