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Tomas K☼h☼ut / Articles

ipernity is shutting down... :( Alternatives?
Bad things come together. Not only Panoramio is closing down.
But also the future of ipernity is bad. In fact, there is only very short near future left.
According to Team ipernity announcement, ipernity is going to be closed down within 2 months.

...this lack of (ipernity) perspective forces us to consider the shutdown of ipernity, probably on January 31, 2017 (or shortly after).
source: https://www.ipernity.com/blog/team/4642052

Well, couple of days ago I finally decided to leave dead Panoramio (there is nothing much left and what to do) and revive my presence on ipernity. I felt good... as many of "old" Panoramio friends had been already there. And ipernity gave me that classical Panoramio look and feel, with only few features missing:
- zooming photos up to the size of the uploaded original
- larger and better map view
- unlimited and free upload
- access to the uploaded original photos without club membership (but I've revived the club membership).

And now... I have to look for a new home of my photos again. :(
Isn't it funny? I left last uploaded "farewell" photo on Panoramio redirecting my friends and followers on ipernity. Now, this redirecting link will be outdated and the target will be dead before the photo on Panoramio disappears. And I cannot edit the link on this farewell photo now. Good timing. 3:-[

I am worried about the fate of the next photo site I am gonna enter, as my last 3 choices were bet on a dead horse (first dead horse was album.olympus.cz). ;-)

I hate to say it... but highest potential and IMHO guaranteed near and mid term future (from business point of view) have Google Photos - they have important and maybe crucial role in Google eco-system, especially within Android phones system. Although there are many serious technical issues currently. And also some design features I don't like and features I do miss.

Another closest option is Flickr, but I guess it's future is not very bright too, as it's popularity is steadily decreasing and now seems to be defeated by Google Photos.

500px seems to be more suitable for ambitious photographers trying to market and sell their photos. Community is too much "popularity" oriented, in my opinion. I am missing some features too (download of own photos, zooming, automatic tags from EXIF).

Ok... Where do you go with your photos?

Popularity of discussed photo sites on Google Trends:
See: Google Trends

Just for curiosity: see ipernity, 500px and Panoramio popularity with better scale:

See: Google Trends

Instead of the popularity in the search terms , you might find more accurate and showing Alexa rank - which is a kind of popularity of web site domain itself, not only the search term for web name. Smaller the number in Alexa is, more popular domain is. Most popular site is number 1 (google.com), second most popular is number 2 (facebook.com) etc. Note that y axis is "raising" to smaller numbers to show higher popularity.

Panoramio:

ipernity:

flickr:


500px:
Alexa rank of Google Photos cannot be estimated, as it is only a subdomain of Google.com, which is clearly number 1. ;-)

7 comments

Gudrun said:

Even though Verizon might close down Flickr I don't see an alternative at the moment. Many of us are going to overwinter there, just to keep in contact: www.flickr.com/groups/ipernity_survivors
If a better alternative can be found, there will be another migration;-) But Google won't be that alternative for most ex-Panoramians! We don't need photo storage but communication. Any site that doesn't offer groups with discussions is not an option.

Some have mentioned www.23hq.com, but this is a similar setup to Ipernity- how will they survive financially if many more freeloaders join? Also there seem to be a few security issues and captchas with every comment are a nuisance.

There is also www.fotoblur.com/about, don't know much about that, though.

Please leave a link to where you can be found! I still have a Google account but probably won't look into it very often.
8 years ago

Tomas K☼h☼ut said:

Thanks Gudrun for group reference. I am in. ;-)

I have a plan to backup my photos on Zonerama - free, unlimited, no resampling, access to originals, integration with my photo editor/manager Zoner Photo Studio.
www.zonerama.com/TomasKohout

I guess it can survive some time, as it is part of Zoner services, which are paid.
But it's not as good when it comes to sharing - no comments on site, no groups - only favs and sharing options on G+ or FB, pinterest, twitter and tumbler. And also no tags, no zooming.
8 years ago

Gudrun replied to Tomas K☼h☼ut:

Thanks, I have seen you over at the "Dark side" (as those on Ipernity who came from Flickr like to say) and also noted your Zonerama account.
Zonerama definitely is not an option, I don't look for storage, I have 3 external hard drives for that;-) Sharing on FB and the like isn't an option either- you can't call anything your own any longer once it's on facebook and I don't want a Google search to bring up a photo of me which inevitably happens if you're on FB, even if you yourself don't post any photos.
8 years ago

Tomas K☼h☼ut replied to :

Yeah, Dark side... ;-)
...and there is a chance to meet some other Panoramio refugees on Flickr (US members tend to move there).

Zonerama as an place for storage makes a sense if it is is used as a second backup. And of course, it's fine option to have an access to all the photos somewhere online .
8 years ago

Gudrun replied to :

btw - it seems 23hq where many have opened an account, isn't exactly a site you would want to go to- they haven't done anything on the programming since 2006 and photos can be copied as easily as on Panoramio.
8 years ago

Daniela Brocca said:

As it seems at the end there are not so many photos sites where we have to choose :-(
8 years ago

Tomas K☼h☼ut replied to Daniela Brocca:

Yes Dani... I am afraid, sooner or later we all be (forced) back to Google Photos.
8 years ago
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