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Four Amazing Photosharing Alternatives to Facebook and Flickr
It's been more than a century since photography knocked on our doors but it still remains a powerful to tool to convey emotions and feelings. It is one of the most expressive and enduring way for us to capture and share experiences. It's hardly strikes as a surprise when we take note of the fact that photo sharing sites were some of the first social sites to hit the web. People love to click pictures and then share them with their friends and family.
In the present times, Facebook, Flickr and Google Picassa dominate the photo-sharing websites' space on the internet. These sites provide users a great, easy-to-use platform to share photographs and videos with their friends and family, online acquaintances and even random people on the web. Now in case, you are kind of bored with these same websites after using them a repetitively, there are several other photo sharing alternatives available on the web.
Let's take look at some of them
SmugMug
It is paid photosharing service on the web. Mashable says its prime focus is making easy for users to showcase and organise pictures - whether they want to sell them or not. There are no bandwidth caps and you can upload and share an unlimited no. of photos. Your photos can password-protected, you can add watermarks, and share them on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr quite easily.
Now the thing with this service is that it is paid. There are Basic, Power and Pro versions of SmugMug and they are priced in ascending order. SmugMug Pro is ideal for a professional photographer who can avail the service for $20 a month or $150 a year and also avail tons of e-commerce options. It also has dedicated apps for iPhone, Android, and iPad.
Smugmug(dot)com
Instagram is an easy-to-use iPhone app using which the users can upload photos on Facebook, Flickr, Tumblr, and Foursquare. Filters and customizations can be easily applied to these photos. The application is compatible with any iPhone or iPod Touch running Ios 3.1.2 or above. What sets it apart from its counterparts is its ease of sharing, browsing and commenting. The best thing about it is that comes for free.
Instagram had more than 100,000 downloads in its first week of release.
Instagr(dot)am
deviantArt
Often abbreviated as dA, deviantArt is an online community showcasing various forms of user-made artwork. Headquartered in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, devianArt aims to provide a place for any artist to exhibit and discuss works of arts. Photography finds a dedicated spot in this website.
devianArt consists of 14.5 million registered members and receives about 1,40,000 submissions each day. It is a free service and is gaining rapid popularity on the web.
Deviantart(dot)com
picplz
It is a photosharing app that makes sharing of photos on Facebook and Twitter like a walk in the park. Users can browse, comment and upload photos using this website. However, the core focus of this service is the mobile phone. It enables users to apply amazing photo effects and turn “average into amazing” as is claimed on its website. 'Cross Process', 'The 70s', 'Russian Toy Camera' etc. are some of the effects to choose from.
Picplz is free and is available in the App Store or Android Market.
10 Apps to Watch in 2011
There are more than 200,000 apps in the Android market. There are more than 325,000 apps available for iOS devices. Even the fledgling Windows Phone 7 app marketplace already has greater than 5,300 apps. Throw in the wide world of web applications and, forget about it: you’d need many lifetimes to try them all.
However, there are just 10 apps you really should keep a very close watch on in 2011. The list below represents the 10 applications — for mobile and the web — that Mashable editors think will be worthy of your attention in 2011. Let us know in the comments which of these picks you agree or disagree with, and which applications you’re excited about for next year.
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However, there are just 10 apps you really should keep a very close watch on in 2011. The list below represents the 10 applications — for mobile and the web — that Mashable editors think will be worthy of your attention in 2011. Let us know in the comments which of these picks you agree or disagree with, and which applications you’re excited about for next year.
1. The Daily
The Daily is the News Corp’s iPad-only newspaper that is set to launch in January with each daily edition costing $0.99 to download. News Corp has invested a lot resources by hiring some 100 journalists andattracting top talent. Rupert Murdoch is trying to reinvent the daily distribution model and move it to the iPad. Because it’s such a big investment and features original content for the iPad, it will be an app to watch.
2. Ge.tt
Since Drop.io was purchased and disbanded by Facebook, there’s certainly a need for free, web-based, acount-less and super simple file sharing. Ge.tt’s unlimited file size allotment, temporary URLs and elegant design make it a good candidate to fill Drop.io’s shoes – that is until Facebook or Google finally build something more powerful.
3. GetGlue
GetGlue is one of the few checkin apps that offers something the other major players (i.e. Foursquare, Facebook Places, Gowalla, SCVNGR, Loopt, etc.) don’t: checkins for activities performed mainly in the home. It also has one of the best recommendation engines I’ve come across. There’s considerable incentive for brands to partner here, which should bring GetGlue into the mainstream the way (if not to the extent) that Foursquare was brought in in 2010.
4. Bizzy
Fledgling startup Bizzy relaunched its website in 2010, focusing on customizing local recommendations based on a user’s favorite locations. In December, it also relaunched its iPhone app that enables users to find nearby recommendations on a simple Google Maps integration. The Bizzy team has more functionalities in store for us in 2011, which may make it as useful for finding local places to visit — if not more so — as Yelp, Google Maps and Foursquare.
5. Flipboard
Launched earlier this year as the iPad’s social magazine, Flipboard transforms social and news feeds into an interface nothing short of gorgeous, but the company and its founder Mike McCue have far bigger plans as they try to reshape news and journalism. Watch out for some big moves in 2011.
6. Kik
Kik is like BBM, but it works across iPhone and Android phones, which makes it infinitely more useful for staying in touch with friends. It’s a free, instantaneous alternative to text messaging that also allows users to see when their messages are received. No wonder more than 2 million people downloaded it within the first three weeks of its launch.
7. ShopKick
Although it currently lacks the consumer awareness or social utility of Foursquare or Facebook Places, Shopkick might have the most commercially viable model in the checkin space. Coupons are a concept that the mainstream inherently “gets” and wants. Retailers want to offer location-based programs that are verifiable (and Target and Best Buy have already signed on). And the ubiquity of smartphones will only increase. All of that leaves Shopkick in a position for a breakout year.
8. Path
With obile photo sharing becoming more popular and Path’s focus on being a personal network, and setting a limit to the number of connections you can add, will attract users looking to connect with their real-life connections. Also, focusing on mobile is smart, considering more users are now checking social networking sites on their mobile phone than e-mail. The founding team also has some star power with the likes of former Facebook senior platform manager Dave Morin, Macster co-creator Dustin Mierau and Napster co-founder Shawn Fanning.
9. Instagram
Instagram made a big splash in 2010, having created the first (successful) social photo experience for the iPhone, and thus making it a likely acquisition target in 2011.
10. GroupMe
If you think SMS is exploding, wait until you see what happens in 2011. Phone calls are going the way of the dinosaur for the less intrusive and more manageable stream of texts coming to our smartphones. GroupMe is poised to bring group texting to the masses with its $9+ million funding round and rapidly growing user base.
