Flickr’s tongue-in-cheek response to an online plea to Yahoo’s new CEO
Not long after Marissa Mayer was named the new CEO of Yahoo, Sean Bonner launched a single-serving site, Dear Marissa Mayer, that blew up all over Twitter and the web. Bonner’s site is a simple open letter to Mayer, pleading with her to make Flickr awesome again (see below). On Thursday, Flickr unveiled its own pitch-perfect response to Bonner’s site called Dear Internet.
I wrote about the “make Flickr awesome again” problem yesterday, noting that it would be a difficult task. And shortly after our story went up, a Flickr engineer messaged me on Twitter noting that the photo-sharing platform is expanding. “Maybe you should learn coding and come help fix it,” he wrote. “We are on a hiring blitz!”
That’s great! But it also wasn’t an official company response.
Today, however, Flickr took that message live to the world with a single-serving site that mimics the look, feel and very message of Bonner’s. It’s encouraging on a number of levels.
Headcounts have clearly been one of Flickr’s bigger problems. Given the size of the site and its user base, it’s pretty incredible to see just how small its team really is. But more encouraging, to me at least, is that today’s Flickr response was a nimble and witty move. It was a fantastic response that not only says, “We’re doing something about it,” but also demonstrates a sense of humor, and an ability to respond quickly to a problem. Basically, these are the exact things you’d hope Flickr can pull off moving forward. And come on, how awesome is it to see Flickr use a single-serving site to respond to a single-serving site?
Flickr still has a hell of a lot of work ahead, but it’s been unveiling a slew of new features and updates this year, and replies like this one can give Flickr users hope. As one of the site’s toughest critics (because, quite honestly, I love Flickr and hate seeing how Yahoo has neglected it), this little tongue-in-cheek response made me very happy to see. I just hope Mayer is paying attention.
Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/07/flickr-responds-to-internet-outcry/
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