Feb
13
2006
rules of engagement
As my Flickr obsession has deepened over the past year, I’ve learned a few tricks to help boost my photos’ exposure within the Flickr community. That’s not to say that I’ve established any kind of massive following on the photo site — I definitely haven’t. But I’ve noticed some patterns in how people use the site and encounter my photostream.
- You have to comment to get comments. Folks may land on your photostream out of sheer serendipity, but, for the most part, you’re not going to develop an audience unless you seek out other Flickr users. Explore all the photography that Flickr has to offer, and comment or “favorite” the photos that you especially like. And if you really like a photographer’s work, add them to your contact list. If you show an interest in others’ work, they may show an interest in yours.
- In all things, moderation. When people who have marked you as a contact pull up their “Photos from your Contacts” page, they’ll only see your five most recent photos. Nevermind that you just uploaded 60 photos from your most recent trip to Rome. They’re only going to see the last five — and they probably won’t dig any deeper unless they really like what they see. Personally, after a photo-taking expedition, I’ll only upload a few photos at a time, as I know that anything beyond the last 4-5 may well be overlooked entirely.
- Make it count. Use Flickr to showcase your best photography efforts. Be ruthlessly discriminating about which photos make the cut. The more potent the photos, the more likely they’ll be to catch someone’s eye.
Has anyone else caught on to any other unwritten rules?
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Comments
Aly, I totally agree with your strategy and have a few additions of my own to make. I’ve had three photos reach the “Interestingness” front page on Flickr and from what I can gather from my own experience, here are some other factors that contributed to my momentary (and I do mean “momentary”) Flickr fame:
-The square version of the photo needs to look good. If faces are completely cut-off or the photo is un-discernable in a way that seems unattractive, people won’t want to look at it. Bright colors are sharp contrast really help here. People are drawn to vibrant images - whether black and white.
-Not only do you have to comment on other people’s photos [a lot], starting conversations and “relationships” with them really helps. There are a few great people, who’s photography I really enjoy, that I am religious about visiting their streams. It’s part of our daily conversation: how are you and wow that’s an awesome photo. That’s a good way to boost your viewed images.
-Submit to groups that require commenting - you give a little, they have to give a little
-Don’t use risque tags - this counts against you in Interestingness.
-Pick one photo and really try to feature it on the day you upload it. Sometimes people even include their pictures when commenting on other people’s pictures. Only upload one for the day, or make sure if you upload more than that, it’s the last image you post that day (more people will see it if they view their “contact’s photos” or if they even catch a random stream from somewhere else).
-Include background information about taking the photo: when, where, how, why. Some people post poems, others choose quotes. I mostly do personal experiences.
-Pick groups to submit photos to that are a bit out of the ordinary but still relevant to your image. For a picture of a baby on a bicycle I submitted it to a “busy hands” group, since the baby was holding on, and a “unique forms of transportation” group because it was :).
It’s an exhausting process but really awesome when you feel that you’re getting so much exposure :).
Thanks for all the advice. You’re totally right, on all counts. :)
Last night, I came across a blog entry from another Flickrite with fairly detailed tips about how to improve your visibility on Flickr. (Thomas Hawk’s Digital Connection: “ Top 10 Tips for Getting Attention on Flickr” - 02/23/06)
There’s also an interesting thread at the Interestingness500 Flickr group about the “magic mojo” that goes into the calculations, and recent changes to that formula.