Likes and Favorites

The two online photo sharing sites that I use both have features where visitors can show their appreciation one way or another besides leaving a comment: Picasa Web Albums has a "Like" button, Flickr has it's "Favorite" feature. But neither of the two are always fitting IMHO. And since all the web is about "social" right now, I might just as well explain what's wrong with them (at least for me) and add my two cents.

Picasa Web Albums' general "Like" button lacks additional features:

First, it's not "public", ie. you don't know who clicked it (unlike Buzz or Reader) - it's just a counter, without any real "social" value. And if Google wants to go "more social" like we always hear, this definitely needs to be addressed - because this is about my social circle. I often want to show my appreciation and tell a friend "I've been here and seen your photo, and I like it" - but the anonymous "Like" button defeats that very purpose.

Second, with the information of the "Like" button, one would expect that this data is utilized somehow - public statistics maybe, a "Highscore Table" that would serve as a "Best of Picasa Web Albums" or something like that. But there's nothing except "13 people like this photo." Too bad!

Third, a general "Like" button is not enough for me: I would really like to "collect" and keep personal favorites somehow (like this photo from Benoit Rousseau), and also show other users what those personal favorites of mine are, and browse other people's favorites. But there's no way to do that in Picasa Web Albums. :-/ (coming to think of it: in the Picasa software you can "star" a photo - why not in Picasa Web Albums?)

On Flickr, it's the other way around.

If I like a photo by someone on Flickr, it might not necessarily be a "Favorite" of mine. Favorite != Like. I'm hesitant to clickr the Favorite star all too often. Which leaves the comment feature to show my appreciation. And I don't know about you, but the "Well done!" and "Nice shot!" comments are simply boring*.

But the comments section below the photo on Flickr also serves as a kind of history with group invites and favorites (and unfortunately, also with a plethora of ugly, blinking, animated pest of badges, nominations and whatnot) for an item. It says "xyz has added this to his/her favorites" - which is clearly good enough if I don't have anything to say or would just repeat what someone else has already said, anyway. Best of all: it's possible to BROWSE the Favorites stream of any user (here are mine.) Flickr also gives me a "Popular / Interesting" list of my photos. I don't know how exactly it is generated, but at least they are using the statistical data and do something with it.

Conclusion?

Ideally, we would have BOTH. Just like on YouTube! Their "Like" button is anonymous (and I'm not sure if the "dislike" button is something that would fit a photo sharing site), but they do have a separate "Favorite" feature. That's better. Unfortunately, I share photos, not videos. :P

And I think that for photos on the social web, neither of the two features should be anonymous. But ideally, that would be configurable - much like I can set my follower/following lists and likes/comments on Google Buzz to private or public.

Got that off of my chest. I feel better now. I mean - someone has to say it, right? :)

*) talking about comments, I try to at least name what I like about a photo instead of putting "Nice" or some other rather meaningless speech bubble. Identifying what's appealing about a photo also helps your own photography! Think about the photo. (and yes I know, there ARE photos where you simply want to say "wow!" or "how beautiful" - that's OK.)