April 8th, 2008
At last, Flickr adds support for video
One of Silicon Valley’s longest running rumors came to an end today: Yahoo-owned photo sharing service Flickr has finally added support for video.
In what many users feared would be a pointless YouTube-clone (Yahoo already has its own video sharing site for that), Flicker users can now upload and share videos as they currently do with photos. However, there’s a catch, and one that keeps the site’s focus as hub for digital photography.
Video uploads are - for the time being at least - limited to ninety seconds in length. Perfect for sharing the kind of short video clips that most digital stills cameras are capable of but nearly useless for anything more ambitious. Additionally, videos are displayed alongside photographs (the user interface makes little distinction) and the ninety second limit should help to discourage copyright infringement too.
Update: Video uploads are limited to ‘Pro’ accounts only (paid-for), although all users can view videos. See Webware’s full hands-on review.
Steve O'Hear is a London-based consultant, educator, and journalist, focussing on the Internet and all aspects of digital technology. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
