Flickr manages to succeed and fail at once
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008Flickr just launched a micro-video service last night, allowing users to post short, small video alongside their photos. Their focus is presumably on short notes that would naturally fit the consumption patterns of the photo-surfing world.
It’s a smart strategic move to pick a niche video market, since there’s little point in trying to recreate Youtube. All credit to them for picking a smart market to focus on.
However, less smart was their decision to completely rip the interface Vimeo has used for their videos. Sure there’s so little to the interface, but that’s part of the genius of Vimeo’s work. There is surely more than one way to skin a video player, and Flickr has failed mightily in taking such a cheap route (or perhaps in so poorly vetting the solution their executives accepted).
People have long said Vimeo was Flickr for videos, presumably because both recognized the importance of user interface and ease-of-use. In fact, that comparison should have been considered an honor. But now we can say that Flickr is like Vimeo for videos, which should be noted is far less complementary.