Flickr is the largest and one of the most popular photo sharing websites on the internet. It offers both free and pro accounts, easy uploading, a vast community of amateur and professional photographers, detailed privacy and sharing options, all on an easy to navigate website.
Although Flickr is owned by Yahoo, it is no longer necessary to have a Yahoo account to join. You also now have the option to join using either your Google or Facebook account.
The Genealogy group on Flickr currently has 864 members with 10,973 photographs of ancestors, gravestones, postcards, documents and other  family history treasures. Sharing old family memorabilia couldn’t be easier.[hr][twocol_one][box style=”rounded” border=”full”]PROS:[unordered_list style=”tick”]
- Largest site = Lots of viewers
- Simple uploader
- Easy to organize photographs
- Integration to other programs and sites
- Upload limits on free account
- Privacy/license not prominently displayed
Setting up a Flickr account is simple and free. Either sign in with an existing Yahoo ID, log in with Google or Facebook or create a new Yahoo ID to begin. As you create your account, you are prompted to personalize your profile, upload your first photos and find your friends who might already be on Flickr.
Account Types:
Free account: Uploading photographs is limited to 300 MB monthly and only your 200 most recent images show in your photostream.
Pro account: For $6.95 per 3 month period, a pro user has unlimited upload, storage and bandwidth. Their photos are stored at a higher resolution then with the free account.
Sharing and Privacy:
You can choose to make your photographs visible to everyone, visible to friends or visible only to yourself. There are further controls on whether your images are publicly searchable or not.
Licensing:
There are various copyright options that you can place on your photographs including ‘All Rights Reserved’ if you don’t authorize the use of your photographs for any reason. Other Creative Commons license variations are also available and a wizard can help you choose the right one for you.
Uploading:
Uploading your photographs is as easy as dragging your files onto the upload page.
Community:
Flickr has more than 1.5 million active groups and you are sure to find many that share your interests.
[box style=”rounded” border=”full”]RECOMMENDATION:
Flickr is an excellent place to organize and share your family photographs[/box]
Meet my great-great-great-grandmother Emma on Flickr.
