Hacking Flickr

February 27, 2008

As many of you know, I use Flickr to host many of my digital images. It used to be an independent company, but it was bought by Yahoo! and now it’s a pretty big system….hundreds of thousands of users and millions and millions of photographs.

Flickr keeps track of the number of views, comments and “Favorites” each photo receives, and there’s some sort of super-secret, constantly morphing algorithm that awards “Interestingness” points. The photos with the most Interestingness get put on the “Explore” page (a sort of “cream of the crop” type thing), and then you receive all the offers from National Geographic and TIME and others to become a photographer for them, and you move into that deeee-luxe apartment in the sky.

Okay, not really, but having a photo on the “Explore” page is a pretty big deal.

Personally, I’ve only had 9 out of the hundreds I’ve uploaded make it to that hallowed ground, and a few of them have been dropped, or pushed out by other, better looking, more popular photos who have their own car and trust funds and don’t shop at Goodwill and…I digress. As of right now, I have a whopping 4 photos that the Flickrverse thinks are awesome.

Naturally, as someone trying to get their name out there and establish themselves as a “photographer,” getting more photos into Explore (thereby reaffirming to my sensitive ego that I am good enough, and smart enough and darnit, people like me…there I go digressing again) is a smart move. It’s also a self-perpetuating thing: people who get photos in Explore are likely to attract more viewers and therefore more likely to get more comments and favorites and other goodies that contribute to photos making it into Flickr. Enough of those, and one day you might wind up shooting for Toyota Iceland and start making actual *money* from your work.

All that is to say, I have no real idea how photos are ranked or selected. Apparently, all you need to include is a semi-nude woman to get a photo to 5,000 views in a day or two, but those rarely make it to Explore. Also, you can get a ton of comments or favorites, and still have the photo languish in obscurity. There really is no discernible rhyme or reason to how photos make it to the top tier…at least that I can figure.

So, it looks like there is no “hacking Flickr.” You just have to take good shots that a lot of people and a few special, secret computers are fond of! Guess I just have to keep shooting…

Posted in Life, Random