Flickr was once the leading photo hosting platform, home to billions of photos and over 2 million photography groups. Though the space is now crowded with competitors, Flickr remains committed to its mission—helping photographers share their work, connect, and discover new visual stories—while refining its niche in the industry.

Project Overview

My project focused on reimagining how Flickr could better serve today’s photography hobbyists. As the sole UX researcher, I used qualitative and quantitative methods to uncover their needs and preferences. I presented my insights and recommendations to the Flickr team, including the Head of Flickr, identifying a $1.57B market opportunity and influencing business and product priorities.

Role

User Research Intern

Duration

June – September 2024

Team

Director of Product Design
Sr. Product Designer

Methods

Literature Review, Stakeholder Interviews, Surveys, and Interviews

Problem Statement

With the rise of Facebook and Instagram, Flickr faces challenges in attracting new users and retaining its existing base as competition from free photo-sharing platforms grows. This led the Director of Product Design to pose the question:

'If Flickr were built for today’s emerging photo hobbyists, what would it look like?'

Literature Review

After speaking with internal stakeholders, I identified a gap between Flickr's vision as a people-first, responsible company and its current product execution. To better understand this gap, I explored external research on the latest trends in photo-sharing and photography. Over the next week, I reviewed:

*This is a simulation of our conversation with cross-functional team members.

Here are a few notable insights:

Here are a few notable insights:

Stakeholders Interview

I started by interviewing stakeholders to align on business goals and validate user assumptions. These conversations included executives and cross-functional team members, providing valuable internal insights that shaped the direction of the project.

These insights suggest Flickr should shift its focus toward today’s photography hobbyists, moving beyond its traditional emphasis on prosumer photographers.

Research Hypothesis

These insights also inform the hypothesis guiding my primary research:

  1. Flickr has not yet successfully attracted young, smartphone, or female photographers.

  2. Younger photographers have limited awareness of Flickr compared to other social media platforms for photo-sharing.

  3. Flickr has the opportunity to reposition itself as a professional but ethical photo-sharing platform.

Research Target Demographic

Based on the hypothesis, my research targets photography hobbyists under 40 who are passionate about photography, enjoy sharing their photos, and are not active Flickr users.

Research Questions

I revisited the problem statement and broke it down into specific research questions. With no existing research to build on, I incorporated market research questions into my study to help identify key demands and opportunities for Flickr.

  1. Who are the photography hobbyists? → What are the market opportunities?

  2. Why is it important to capture these photography hobbyists? → What is the market size?

  3. Do they need Flickr? Why? → What needs can Flickr satisfy in their photography journey?

  4. Why did past users leave Flickr? → What low-hanging fruit can Flickr pursue to attract photography hobbyists?

Survey

To answer the market research questions, I conducted a survey to collect large, representative data for analysis. The aim was to understand the current photo-sharing landscape, gain deeper insights into photography hobbyists, uncover market opportunities, and estimate the market size.

Survey Recruitement

The real question is…how can we reach photographers who aren’t using Flickr?

I began by reaching out to university clubs. However, we received no responses after sending 300 emails, as students typically don't check emails over the summer, and many student club accounts were inactive. Inspired by a previous conversation with an engineer, I decided to engage our target audience on Reddit and Discord.

To address potential concerns about professionalism, I reached out to moderators privately before posting, ensuring we followed community guidelines. Within the next week, we received 871 survey responses, of which 665 were quality data, filtered by demographic and completeness. Over 65% of respondents were not Flickr users, and the gender distribution was nearly equal!

Survey Design

The following survey logic is designed to guide respondents through relevant questions, ensuring accurate data and enabling meaningful analysis. The full survey can be accessed through this link.

Survey Questions

Since the company owns SmugMug, a platform for professional photographers, I collaborated with SmugMug’s UX Researcher to develop survey questions comparing Flickr and SmugMug users, building on previous research. The following is a sample question:

I initially preferred a simpler survey to maintain response quality, but I underestimated how eager photographers were to share feedback. This resulted in comprehensive insights that helped compare photographer profiles across Flickr and SmugMug.

Interview

Based on previous research suggesting non-Flickr photographers might be less available or willing to participate, I began recruiting interview participants while awaiting survey responses. To gain a deeper understanding of how Flickr could benefit emerging photography hobbyists, one-on-one interviews were essential after the survey to uncover the psychographics, behaviors, and values of these photographers. We successfully completed 7 interviews!

Interview Outline

With the surge in survey responses after posting on Reddit, I was able to review the data, which helped shape the research questions. Below is a high-level summary of the interview findings. The full interview script can be accessed through this link.

Please feel free to click on the key themes of the interview questions to explore the rationale behind each one:

  • The survey showed most hobbyists pick up a camera during a trip or through others' influence. This insight helped the marketing team identify channels to reach them and ways Flickr could support their photography journey.

  • While storage drives Flickr's revenue, its photo-sharing community is most valuable to photographers. Therefore, understanding both the storage and sharing features, along with how Flickr can better integrate into photographers' workflows, is essential.

  • Several survey respondents mentioned wanting a safe, reliable space to store their photos. This insight prompted me to further assess whether Flickr’s value propositions—visibility, privacy, and community—aligned with the values of photography hobbyists.

Research Insights

The untapped photography hobbyist market represents a $1.57 billion opportunity in the U.S. alone, with significantly greater potential on a global scale. This highlights a key opportunity for Flickr to evolve into a revenue-generating business by engaging this underserved segment.

Despite being an inclusive, community-based photo-sharing platform, Flickr has yet to capture the interest of hobbyists who are 1–2 years into their photography journey, use a smartphone to take photos, and identify as female. Kate embodies the photography enthusiast Flickr has struggled to reach and connect with.

Here is supporting data from the literature review and survey:

The photography hobbyists need Flickr. They are actively seeking a platform that allows them to discover photos through tags and metadata, while preserving high photo quality for both storage and sharing. They value a safe, ethical community where they can connect with others, find inspiration, and grow alongside more experienced photographers.

I explored why photography hobbyists stopped using Flickr to find ways the platform could better attract and engage them. A key insight is that many former users may have left before fully experiencing Flickr’s core features. Most ex-Flickr users initially discovered the platform through social media, often resulting in a limited introduction and shallow understanding of its core value. In contrast, current users frequently joined through word-of-mouth recommendations, which provided greater context and fostered a stronger sense of connection from the outset.

The following reasons explain why photography hobbyists aren’t using Flickr, reinforcing the earlier insight that many non-users never fully experienced the platform. Additionally, the user experience could be improved through low-hanging fruit initiatives—such as UX copy that informs users how photo quality impacts speed, and a simplified onboarding system.

Impact

Due to NDA restrictions, I am unable to share the specifics of my final recommendations and insights. However, I delivered a research presentation to the entire Flickr team—including the Head of Flickr and key decision-makers—featuring data visualizations and prototypes. The prototypes highlighted low-hanging fruit initiatives that engineers could quickly implement, generating a lot of excitement! As a result, my insights and recommendations helped influence the re-prioritization of product and business goals.

Reflection

If I had more time…

Personal Growth

Conduct usability testings to prioritize feature improvements based on performance and preference metrics.

We gained valuable insights from market reserach and user research, but these primarily measured preferences (satisfaction) and emotions rather than performance. To prioritize feature improvements effectively, it's crucial to understand the performance issues hindering the user experience.

Waking up to my dream job every single day feels AMAZING.

I enjoy my day-to-day work in research, wearing multiple hats, and seeing the impact I can make while collaborating with other teams. In addition, being part of Flickr was truly an eye-opening experience for me. As a data science major at UC Berkeley, where data ethics are emphasized in the curriculum, I am inspired by Flickr’s commitment to its users, their data, and its impact on the environment through films, partnerships, and more. As a young professional, I feel privileged to be part of a company that contributes positively to society early in my career.

“Give yourself some grace.”

That was my manager Liz's feedback when I asked for her thoughts on my work, presentation, and our day-to-day interactions toward the end of my internship. As a young, aspiring UX professional, I have always devoted myself fully to every opportunity. Liz's feedback serves as a reminder to balance personal growth, career growth, and individual well-being, and not to be too harsh on myself.

A HUGE thank you to everyone I met during this internship!

It was a remote experience (Flickr is 100% remote), but I had the privilege of attending a week-long company trip at Stowe, Vermont, where I had the chance to meet people on my screens. As the only intern this summer, I felt extremely welcomed and inspired.

I want to give a special shoutout to my manager, Liz, and designer, Navnit, for their continuous support throughout the project. I truly could not have asked for a better internship experience.