Why I use Flickr for my Twitter.

By Neill in Tweetshots and iPhoneography

Where are your Twitter photos going?

Throughout this year, it seems that many Twitter photo sharing serviced have been quietly amending their terms and conditions to include broad ranging rights grabs, some going to far as to say that if you use their service, you give them permission to sell your images without even paying you a button. But why is that such a big deal?

After all, most Twitter images are quick iPhone grabs, low resolution, spur of the moment stuff, mostly forgotten within a few moments of a Twitter timeline. That’s perfectly true, but don’t forget several important things. First off, image quality. If you’re standing right there when that UFO lands right in front of you and the door opens, who cares about quality? As Chase Jarvis so often says, the best camera is the one you have in your hand when you see the moment. So bear in mind that many newworthy events are broadcast and published off low resolution images because the alternative is no image at all.
Secondly, there are a great many uses for low resolution images today, with the abundance of personal gadgets, so even a screen resolution image will potentially have value.
Third, if you’re someone who creates content as his way of making a living, it’s important in my view that I retain the options and control over pretty much anything I shoot or write, even if it’s simply for my own promotion.

So I went out there and started looking at all of the photo uploading services and tried to find an image service that didn’t want to claim all of my copyright or a perpetual image licence for them to sell, sub-licence, repurpose and basically own everything I upload. There were some, and you’re welcome to comment below on what service you use for your social media images, but I’m going with Flickr right now. The reasons why are twofold.
First off, I can set a blanket condition on everything I upload as being ‘all rights reserved’ Secondly, I can display any images I happen to take on the very popular global platform that is Flickr. They’re not going to be stellar images for a portfolio, but by putting them into a Twitter / iPhone set, you can display them in the context they were taken. To me this is useful, as it means that me and other people can take alook t just what I’ve been shooting on an iPhone over the course of a week, which proved interesting. And secondly, my Twitter and iPhone shots don’t just get whipped along in a Twitter timeline and become forgotten within ten minutes, they actually have a place to live.
There are downsides. Normally, you would only upload your perfect, retouched images to a public place like Flickr, but my Flickr photostream will often show quick iPhone shots as the most recent uploads. Not perfect, but as part of this experiment, I’m not going to remove any images at all. Hopefully this will show me a historical timeline of my Twitter image activity and also make me think a little more about what I shoot on my iPhone.
If you have a favourite image uploading service that you use for your Twitter activity or other social media, please add your thoughts below. What’s your favourite?

About Neill

Neill Watson is a professional photographer and writer. His childhood love of cars, driving, aviation and flying has never abated. This was added to in his college years by his draughtsman teacher who instilled an interest in architecture and building design. If you love the sound of the Cosworth V8 as much as the V12 Merlin, the smell of Jet A1 as much as Castrol R and admire the late Ray Hanna as much as Sir Stirling, you’ll find you’re both on the same page

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