I’ve been visiting Flickr for the past couple of days but I never really noticed that the site logo has already been changed. It now says “Flickr from Yahoo”. I don’t even remember Yahoo announcing the logo change. Of course, Yahoo doesn’t really have to announce it, as Yahoo bought Flickr a long time ago and transitioned the login system to Yahoo IDs. Both which led to a lot of huffing and puffing by Flickr users.
However, hard-core Flickr fans whom a TechCrunch post termed as “techy hipsters” are not happy by the presence of the Yahoo side by side with the Flickr logo. These “techy hipsters” according to Yahoo’s Carol Bartz don’t mix well with “middle America Yahoo.”
Disgruntled users have aired their sentiments at the Flickr forum site with many of the users blatantly saying that they don’t want to be reminded of Yahoo’s acquisition of Flickr. The users who certainly did not like Yahoo even calls it as “stale” and the Yahoo logo as horrifying and ugly.
But despite the sentiments, the logo remained the same until now. Yahoo seems to be ignoring the comments posted by the very loyal users of Flickr whom if I may say so continued to use the site and make it as it is right now, albeit with a lot of support from Yahoo.
I’m not saying that Yahoo should heed the users demand but isn’t it going right through their new campaign slogan that Yahoo is all about You! Those Flickr users certainly belong to that so called – You, right?
It’s a free image-hosting service with a forum and search facility, and they’re complaining ?!
I don’t have a problem with it at all. However, I do think the purple logo next to the Flickr logo looks like ass. I think their Web designers must be color blind or the Yahoo! branding police threatened their lives.
It’s funny. They’ve even created a community around the people who are revolting.
DAVID: True that it is a free service, but I paid to upgrade, as did a lot of the people who seem to be revolting. If you use the service a lot, the paid upgrade actually has some nice features.
It is amazing to me how business often forget who their loyal customer base is. Yahoo owns flicker, great, BRAND it. However they could listen to their customers. Web 2.0 is about engagement. Yahoo should engage “hard core fans” in the process. Make it a little more subtle to start off with and gradually make it more prominent. Or better yet a contest that users generate and vote on the logo. I have to agree with John. Purple? Really?
I ditched my paid Flickr account after Yahoo forced the crappy new home page on all of us. I’m about to go delete everything I’ve ever posted to Flickr now that Yahoo has continued to demonstrate disregard for its paid users. Yahoo can choke on their “Web 2.0.”
Just now, I learned that I am revolting!
I think Yahoo should study the reaction to this appendage carefully. When I mention use the Yahoo home page, my friends ask me why – I find I can no longer justify using it. It offers nothing that is best-of-breed, except Flickr, and I love Flickr despite Yahoo, rather than because of Yahoo. The Yahoo brand is dead, they should be strengthening a number of offshoot brands for the company to evolve into.