Flickr is an online photo sharing and hosting site created in 2004 that was acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. It allows users to upload, tag, and share photos either publicly or within private groups. While free accounts have upload limits, pro accounts cost $25 per year for unlimited uploads and ad-free browsing. Flickr is popular among Mac and Linux users and its demographics skew towards ages 18-34. Users have privacy controls over who can view their photos and can delete them at any time. However, Yahoo!'s privacy policy allows them to collect user data through cookies and share information with advertisers and partners. Businesses use Flickr to advertise and promote their brand by posting photos that drive traffic to their website.

2. Background Info Image & video sharing and hosting site Online community (blogging) Created in 2004 and bought out in 2005 by Yahoo! for $35 million As of September 2010 claim to be hosting more than 5 billion images

3. Features Upload pictures to share with anyone Can upload pictures via email so from virtually anywhere Tagging feature makes it easy to search for photos by group Maps allowing users to see exactly when and where the picture was taken and with what camera

4. 2 types of accounts available Free- limited upload capabilities Pro- $25 per year, unlimited uploads, ad-free browsing, ability to check statistics of their pictures

5. Users are able to make their photos available for purchase Many famous museums use it to get their pictures out to the public The White House official photographer began using flickr in May 2009 to release White House photos---> keeps us in the loop about what is going on (can see Obama playing basketball)

6. demographics Popular with Mac and Linux users since many photo-sharing sites require windows 22 million users every month 54% users are men 46% users are female ages 18-34 make up 39% of users ages 35-49 make up 31% of users

7. privacy:benefits 3 options for users Public: Users can make their pictures viewable to everyone Semi-private: Users can make a list of people they want to be able to view their pictures or can send them straight to them if they don’t have a flickr account Private: Users are able to make their pictures completely off limits to anyone besides them

8. Benefits cntd. Users are able to delete photos whenever they please When people upload pictures they are asked to determine how “safe” they are to make sure other users aren’t offended Attribution license- 3rd parties can use users photos without paying them but they must credit them for the picture

9. privacy issues Ads that are placed on the side of the pages you are viewing are directly related to your registration information and or the page you are viewing Flickr makes predictions about what you might like based on other sites you visit, stating they look at what other sites you visit You are able to opt out of interest based ads as long as you allow Yahoo! cookies to stay on your computer

10. Privacy issues cntd. Flickr users have to abide by the terms and service conditions of Yahoo! which is located on Yahoo!s site not flickr Yahoo!s privacy Collect information using IP address and through a Yahoo! cookie that downloads itself to your computer Let advertisers they are in business with download cookies on to your computer They get info from other business associates about you so they can: provide you with ads contact you conduct research on you

11. Yahoo! privacy cntd. They provide your information “anonymously” to internal and external clients (wonder how you get all that spam email) All of this was provided on the Yahoo! website but nobody bothers to travel from flickr to Yahoo! to read it over they just “Accept” during registration

12. Benefits for business Flickr allows businesses to get their name and pictures of their business out there New York Public Library posted on flickr commons section and within one day they had 53,220 image views, 123 comments and 1,112 marked as peoples favorite 63% of businesses said the reason they post on flickr is to advertise and provide a link to their businesses website