Flickr.com is an image sharing community that you may have come across if you’ve signed up for a free Google account. Take the time to investigate Flickr and you’ll find that it’s a very useful site indeed, as it provides free hosting for your photographs which can then be shared and embedded elsewhere. This is very useful if you're a photographer, graphic designer or want to use images to promote yourself and your websites- music bands, youth groups, market stalls and retailers can photograph their events, gigs, products and so on, as Flickr can provide a platform which you can link your images back to your original website.
When you upload your images onto the site, be sure that you add as much information as possible, the name of the photograph, as many details about it as possible and put your website address on there too, but without the ‘www.’s. You can then organize individual images into ‘Sets’- so if you’re retailing hard stock, perhaps sort them into product categories, or if you're a musician, sort them into different gig dates? Otherwise include photos of your work so potential customers can view.
There is a friend option on Flickr which works very much like Facebook- you acknowledge and accept someone as a friend, and you can then tag each other in photos and leave comments on each others’ profiles and images. If you don’t have any friends on Flickr, you can invite people via email addresses and whilst you’re waiting for a response, go and have a look in the Groups section of the site.
Flickr Groups are much like the groups you can find on Facebook, Yahoo and MSN, but are obviously very image orientated. Run a search through the groups section to find groups applicable to your images and subject content. Most groups will let you join them by clicking the ‘join this group’ button, but some will insist that you write a short note of application before they accept you. This is purely down to the moderator of the group and is often done to prevent spammers joining up.
A few simple words stating why you’d like to join will suffice, they don’t need your life story, and try not to fill your application note will sales pitch; just explain that you’re interested in joining the group.When you’ve been accepted, check out the homepage for the group in question. You’ll see it has a selection of images on the main page, called the Group Pool, where the other members have submitted photos relevant to the groups’ subject content. You can do this to, by following the onscreen instructions, but be aware that you’re only allowed to upload six images at a time. This is useful as it encourages you to return to the group at a later date.
There’s an invite friends option, where your can invite your Flickr friends to join and a map where you can see where the group is situated. As with all groups, there’s a discussion board, and it is polite to introduce yourself if you’re a new member, especially if you don’t know any of the other people in the group. You can always follow this up when you return at a later date to upload more images.
The advantage of Flickr is that it provides another platform to showcase your products and completed projects. Presuming all of your images are correctly labeled, this is also useful for attracting relevant site traffic should they be returned in search engine results.