Flickr Curiosity

I have been a member of Flickr for a little while now and find it is really good for motivation. The group participation and comments/awards that I get really keep me going, which is good because I'm terrible for not getting things done!

One thing that I have noticed on there, apart from the apparent popularity and appreciation of terribly overdone HDR images, is that some images get a huge number of comments and favourites in a relatively short space of time. One that I have just seen has been posted about six weeks and it has nearly 2,000 comments and has been favourited just over 700 times. Some I have seen with hundreds of comments and dozens of favourites that have only been up a few days.

There doesn't seem to be anything obvious to suggest how or why. Group contributions appear to be nothing out of the ordinary and the image itself is sometimes not what I would call outstanding.

I'm really curious to know how some people get so much exposure for their photographs on there.

Mike

People have lots of contacts. They get them by contacting lots of people, commenting on every photo they see, and fave'ing lots of images. Be a networker and get lots of Flickr friends -- then your photos show up in a lot of contact streams and will get more comments.

It is also a self-feeding loop... as an image becomes more popular, it will start appearing on the Flickr home page "in explore" and then it will start getting a lot more views.

Ahh I see! I thought there must be some explanation.

I have just gone back and looked at that person's contact list and he has over 1,300! I've only got 37! If someone adds me to their list I add them in return, out of courtesy.

I don't think I'll be going mad trying to get loads of comments and favourites though. I'm quite happy with the ones I get now.

Mike

Mike, I just took a look though your photo stream and there are some awesome photos there. Well done and thanks for sharing them.

Peter

Thanks Peter

That's a nice wildlife set you've got in your photostream. It's one area that I want to make more of an effort with too.

Mike

Yeah, I'd agree with the above posters. It seems that Flickr is more similar to a blog, whereas if you are active on other people's blogs, they will be active in yours. It's all about networking.

p.s. Added you as a contact on Flickr

Thanks for that Kevin.

I definitely gain a lot of motivation just from the acknowledgements received from other members. For someone like me that's worth a lot.

Mike

Mike-DT6 wrote in post #6345934
I have just gone back and looked at that person's contact list and he has over 1,300! I've only got 37! If someone adds me to their list I add them in return, out of courtesy.

I try and keep my contacts down to a minimum (I have 65 at the moment), people whose photos I like and who seem to like my photos. I don't see the point in having so many contacts that you can't keep up with their streams - yes you'll get many more comments but they'll most likely be throw-away type comments anyway. Same with adding photos to groups, I only choose a few nowadays as most of the comments you get from the 'Post one, comment on X' groups are also worthless.

I just checked out your photos, they're pretty damn good!

Cheers,
Chris

http://www.flickr.com/​photos/chris_gin/

I too only contact those whose photos I like, or who I know. But yes, networking is important. I'll always respond in kind if someone I don't know comments/faves one of my photos, and I'll usually add them as a contact. BTW, I just added you

Thank you both. Just added you too Conor.

When I first joined Flickr I searched for photographs that I liked, taken in my local area, then had a look at those people's group list to get an idea of what ones to join. From there I have picked up a few group invitations and have also joined a few groups specific to a particular photograph I wanted to post.

I think that the post one/comment x groups are handy for gauging which particular photos people like, which gives me an idea of which ones might be most likely to sell as prints. The post 1/comment 5 groups are a bit time consuming though. I prefer the comment 2 or 3 groups!

There's a panoramic photograph group on there that amuses me. Apart from the strict rules that you have to abide by it seems to be a 'lamb to the slaughter' set-up whereby people post their panoramas and are promptly ripped to shreds by the group owner who goes through each one pixel by pixel, finding things wrong with them!

Mike