Is Video On Flickr A Good Thing? Not in my backyard or way cool reaction?

Photo by Leo 980

Flickr has announced a new feature - that you can post 90 second videos on flickr.  You can check out some of the videos in this group.  The FAQ is here.  What really fascinating is that there is a "No Video on Flickr Group" that has over 12, 000 members.

So, I wondered about the "Not in my Backyard Reaction!"

Here's my backyard shot with my camera phone and posted by email.   Having video on Flickr feels strange.  I'm not sure about.  The embed is sort of cool - it will automatically resize the video for you.

The good folks at See3 have a round up of coverage

 

What do you think?  Is video on Flickr a good thing?

Comments

[John Powers]

I'm amused no one has commented. The teaser for me was that 1200 have joined the No Video on Flickr Group. I am not very technologically savvy and my social skill probably aren't up to snuff either. Flickr is such a great site it's easy to navigate through worlds of creativity and my experience has been that the ethic there is collaborative and nice. So Flickr is a nice place for someone like me to visit online. YouTube comments tend toward online coarse. My biggest worry is that video would disrupt the positive vibe of Flickr. But so far I've seen little evidence of that. Flickr talks about the 90 sec. limit around the idea of the "long photo." Lots of cameras now have video capacity, but exactly what "long photos" are is still being invented. I'm pleased that Flickr is allowing the wonderful community of users to explore this composition.

[Beth Kanter]

I just put up a "long photo" not a really good one -- interesting concept. I just wonder given the negative response if it will take off. It amazes me about the strength and organizing power of the community on flickr.

[Jeremy Gregg]

I think that it's a very positive thing. Many non-profits could benefit from delivering their message/mission via video, and not everyone can learn how to master multiple media (YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, etc.). There are some non-profits using Flikr, for whom this might enable a foray into the world of video.

Jeremy Gregg, Editor
The Raiser's Razor
http://theraiser.blogspot.com/

[Sue Waters]

I did some videos using my digital camera while I was away on holidays and tested uploading from an Internet Cafe. The biggest issued I had was the videos, even though they were less than 90 seconds, were extremely large file sizes. So were a real battle to upload. There is no way normally I would consider uploading videos the size they were so I'm thinking I will need to edit then upload to improve the process. But I quite like the idea of videos on Flickr.

[Matt]

I'm leery of such a large drift in a site's purpose. Flickr aping YouTube reminds me too much of Facebook aping MySpace, which (for me) detracted from its charm and fun. It's a little early to tell whether a shift like that will happen on Flickr, though, and I don't really anticipate it.

[Beth Kanter]

Just found an interesting group called the 90 second story -
http://www.flickr.com/groups/90sec/discuss/72157604561229787/