thing 5) flickr

i had a lot of fun playing with flickr in thing 5.

i started out with hesitation. i am so sick of the abundance of social networks and photosharing programs that require a log in to view. i have to sign up for 40 different applications to view the photos my friends share. i want just one place to upload, share, and blog my photos. i have both a flickr and photobucket account.

it seems that photobucket is good for some applications, and flickr others. if i only want to paste one photo to a website, then photobucket appears reliable. i am disappointed that free flickr only offers a limited storage capacity, because i really wanted to settle down with just one photosharing site. oh well.

it seems i must go on with uploading pics to facebook, myspace, livejournal, blogger, flickr AND photobucket. i do have to say that uploading has become much more user-friendly, so it's not too much of a pain. and sites are starting to work together, or utilize third party software that allows multiple uploads to various sites at once.

i played around with posting from flickr to both my livejournal and blogger blog. it was very easy, and makes my photo posts much easier. it didnt' seem that one could blog several photos at once, which i find less useful.

other parts of flickr that i found useful were:

1. exploring and finding creative commons photos that i could use for user pics, on my different websites, or display pictures and give creators credit
2. the groups were interesting, but i feel so inundated with different forums and networks that this kind of just blew my mind. people post pics AND have discussions? it's like one just needs to pic 3 different social areas and only stay within those walls & communities...
3. i think flickr is only useful with a paid account. i'm now actually thinking about upgrading...

so, if anyone has a recommendation, i'd be most grateful. should i stick with flickr and upgrade? is there a free site that has the same functionality?

thanks!