Yahoo is getting serious about making sure Flickr thrives: the company has hired former Google executive Bernardo Hernández to lead the popular photo sharing service. Hernández announced the news today through his Twitter account.
Yahoo's recent Flickr redesign has been met with mixed reviews. After the release, a large number of users took to the Flickr Help forum and tore into everything from the look and feel to the team responsible.
General opinion at Yahoo, however, is that this is a just a small subset (albeit a very vocal one) of users, and the company is displaying its commitment to the new Flickr with the first ever (to our knowledge) Flickr TV commercial.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer found herself in the spotlight earlier this week following a controversial statement made at Flickr's NYC press event regarding pro photographers:
There’s no such thing as Flickr Pro today because [with so many people taking photographs] there’s really no such thing as professional photographers anymore.
Photographer Zack Arias took offense to the comment, and before long, a number of publications picked up the story, sparking discussion and debate on the matter. Some users even took to Mayer's Flickr page to voice their opinions.
...there's no such thing as Flickr Pro, because today, with cameras as pervasive as they are, there is no such thing really as professional photographers, when there's everything is professional photographers. Certainly there is varying levels of skills, but we didn't want to have a Flickr Pro anymore, we wanted everyone to have professional quality photos, space, and sharing." -- Marissa Mayer, Yahoo Event, May 2013
Woah, there, Yahoo cowgirl...let's hold on just a second!
When it comes to the Marissa Mayer/Yahoo!/Flickr love triangle, a little timeline of events is always helpful. So first we had Marissa Mayer, Google's 20th employee, take over as CEO of Yahoo! after several other people over the course of 12 months just couldn't cut it. It was around that time that the #dearmarissamayer movement began, with the message "Please Make Flickr Awesome Again" at the top of its list.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer held her first earnings call yesterday, and it appears that stockholders were pleased with the company's latest quarter figures: the stock price has been soaring since then. Among the areas that Yahoo sees promise in are Flickr and mobile, as well as a combination of the two.
Good news, Flickr fans: new Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is paying attention to your service, and is planning to …
Remember that new Flickr account we reported on yesterday that appeared to be owned by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer? Turns out it actually wasn't her, and was quickly taken down after becoming a big story in the blogosphere.
TechCrunch reports that Mayer actually does have a Flickr account -- one that's set to private.
Update: The account has mysteriously vanished from Flickr. This suggests that it was either fake, or something that wasn't meant to be as big of a news story as it was.
If you're a fan of Flickr, then you'll be happy to know that new Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has apparently created an account on the photo sharing service. Granted, the page only features a single portrait of Mayer from her days as a Google exec, but it's an important first step. Neither of Mayer's two predecessors (Scott Thompson or Carol Bartz) bothered to join the service.
Of the 5 people to take over the job of Yahoo! CEO over the last 5 years, Marissa Mayer is making the biggest splash. Maybe it's because she's six months pregnant and firing up the "working moms" debate, maybe it's because she's worth an approximate $300 million, or maybe it's because she was Google's 20th employee who's been doing great work over there since 1999. From a photography perspective, however, the Dear Marissa Mayer movement isn't hurting either.