You will be happy to know that you can recreate your experience from Flickr here on ipernity with a lot less effort than you might think! This is what to do:

Your Pictures: Import Directly From Flickr! You won't have to upload all of your images from scratch (unless you have already deleted your Flickr account), just transfer them with a click of your mouse button! The ipernity team has written a special "script" that you install on your browser, and the next time you visit Flickr, you will have the option to transfer up to 90 pictures at a time over to ipernity. This transfer happens over the internet so it won't even slow down your internet connection! I transferred 3500+ pictures over the course of a few hours and while each set of 90 was being added to the transfer queue in the background, I was doing whatever I wanted to do!

Here is a link to ipernity's Import scripts, along with easy-to-understand directions
Import your Flickr photos—Choose these two plugins listed on the page:

Flickr.importer—To import all of your photos from Flickr to ipernity (in batches of 90 photos)
Flickr2ipernity—To import one by one your Flickr photos to ipernity.

Your Sets: Import Directly From Flickr! You won't have to recreate all those sets you put together either! :) The ipernity team also has a script that will transfer your sets and it works great. (On ipernity, "sets" are called "albums" but they are the same thing.)

Here is a link to ipernity's Import scripts, along with easy-to-understand directions
Import your Flickr sets—Choose this plugin listed on the page:

Flickr.album.importer—To import a Flickr set to an ipernity album

Making Friends in the Welcoming ipernity Community One of the things I noticed immediately on ipernity is the sense of community and comraderie here. It seems like people are friendlier, and I think part of that may have to do with the fact that many of us jumped ship from Flickr and have banded together as a community. However, people here who have never had an account on Flickr are equally genuine, nice, and extremely welcoming. Maybe it's got something to do with being a European-based site...it's definitely a different feeling here, and it's great! In any event, ipernity is a wonderful place to make friends and a great community to be part of! And, just like on Flickr, making friends on ipernity is easy and fun. Strike up a conversation and get ready to make a new friend! :)

Generating Contacts One of the headaches of moving to another photo site is generating a base of contacts. ipernity makes it easy to do this: right-click on a person's icon and add them as an acquaintance, friend or family. You can also add new contacts from your main page by choosing the tab "Contacts" (on the same line as "You!") and then "Invite Friends" on the left column. Another way to add contacts is from the "News" page. On the right side you'll see a section called, "Do you know them?" and under this will be 5 names which are contacts of your contacts. This list will change each time you visit this page, and you can click on each person's name and add them to your contact list this way.

Getting Views & Comments Just like on Flickr, "you get what you pay for" here on ipernity. That means, if you want views and comments, you need to get out there and drum up interest! If you need a place to start, try the Explore pages or visit some groups that look like fun. Write some nice comments for the pictures that you like and while you're at it, add these people to your contact list! Soon you'll have people coming to visit. Make sure to reply to every comment left on your images by visiting each person's stream and commenting on a picture. (Writing a reply or note of thanks on your photo's comments may get missed by the visitor) Be consistent with comments and replies with your new contacts, visit more people's streams, keep making nice comments, and very soon you'll have a generous number of contacts visiting that will become your friends!

Groups on ipernity Groups here are fewer in number with less members and smaller pools, but you will come to find that "less is more" on ipernity. The active groups are wonderful, and you'll discover that doesn't take many people that contribute regularly to make a group really fun! In fact, your contributions will actually be noticed instead of being instantly swallowed up in a raging river of pictures, swept out of sight and out of mind. If you become active in a group by commenting and taking part in discussions, the unique community aspect of ipernity will come into play immediately! Group participation on ipernity is so rewarding! Keep in mind too, that groups are swelling quickly since the flood of refuges begun arriving in late May. Finally, don't be afraid to begin a new group--I've seen many start up since I arrived, and they are prospering! All you need to do is start it and then tell your friends and contacts! (By the way, if you are an "award junkie" you won't many of these here, but there are a few.)

Stay Tuned For Part Two! I'll be covering tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your ipernity experience in my next article!