Flickr is a photo sharing site with great social features. I’ve discovered that many people think of Flickr as just an online photo album, but if so — they are really missing the fun. I freely admit that I’m a bit of a Flickr addict, and the pro account someone gave me as a gift, is something that I wouldn’t give up on a bet now.

Let’s walk through the basic features:

• Photo Upload & Re-sizing
• Photo Organizing into Sets & Collections
• Photo Sharing, public or friends only
• Photo exploration
• Contacts & Favorites
• Create, Join, and Participate in Interest Groups — share photos and discussions
• Export photos to your blog or other website
• Integrates with a myriad of third-party tools

What it doesn’t do:

• Clean up your photos

Flickr is great for both personal photos and portfolio pictures. One of the hidden gems of Flickr is the artist communities where they share their latest work. Travel photos are also a popular favorite, and of course just about everything else you can think of.

Getting Started
To get started on Flickr, just sign up for a free account. You can post about 200 photos for free. Then start exploring. You don’t even need to post your own pictures. You can explore other people’s and share your thoughts about them. Comments are a great way to engage on Flickr, and build relationships. If you really like a photo, mark it as a favorite or add the person as a contact so you can keep up with their pictures.

Ways to Use Flickr

• Fun — share photos and join groups
• Photoblog — give people a little bit of a personal window into your personal or professional world
• Share your view of the world through photos and groups
• Find people who are interested in similar personal or professional things
• Reach out to people who post pictures of your business or product
• Create your own group and invite people to post actions shots of themselves using your product
• Create something that works with Flickr and share it with the world (www.moo.com)
• Be sure to fill out your profile so people know who you are and add a link to your website.

Go explore Flickr and let me know how it goes and how you’re using it.

[tags]social media, flickr, howto, coaching[/tags]