14 DAY TRIAL // Flickr’s co-founder Caterina Fake trusts that Marissa Mayer will manage to bring the photo service back into relevance.
In an interview for Bloomberg, Fake said that Flickr, a company that has not necessarily done well under previous Yahoo leadership, could thrive under Mayer.
“Marissa experiences in consumer - a strong experience in mobile and consumer internet with Google. So I think the DNA is right and of the CEOs that have been there, I think she’s the best,” Fake said.
She also mentions that nowadays, Flickr is a social product. “The most important thing about the evolution of Flickr is that it includes the people, that there are conversations and direct contact with all people involved with submitting their work,” the service’s co-founder said.
This seems to have been something Fake was looking for. She admits that, when they were looking at potential acquisitions, they talked to both Google and Yahoo and chose the latter because it had more experience in social networks, communities and the social aspect of the Internet.
Flickr was created in 2004 by Ludicorp, a company created by Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake. In 2005, they decided to sell the service to Yahoo for a reported $35 million (€26 million).
Over the years, it has lost some of its relevance. Recently, however, Mayer has put the focus back on Flickr, has overhauled the entire website, offered a lot more storage space for free and has now acquired several startups specialized in photo services.
After Yahoo completely changed the Flickr website, numerous users complained about the way it looks and acts, saying the service has officially been completely ruined. Of course, the fact that it comes with 1TB free storage space sort-of made things better and could certainly attract a lot of new users.