It’s time to get a Flickr Pro account if you are a fan of the photo hosting service/social media platform. The Flickr commercial use policy has been in effect for years, so even though they have not enforced it in the past, they are now. It’s time to pay up or risk having your account terminated. According to this blog post on NWN, many Second Life residents with FREE accounts are in violation of the commercial use policy.

If you are a designer in SL and make money, consider Flickr Pro the cost of doing business, if you actually want to do business and not call it a “hobby”. As my friend says, even hobbies cost money. I’m surprised at the pushback from some SL designers and bloggers since Flickr is the photo social platform of choice for SL residents, and not even prohibitively expensive. It’s only $50/year! I’ve been a Flickr Pro member since November 2007 (proof below) and an SL snapshot addict with over 19,660 photos. I definitely see value in Flickr from the moment I started using it to cross-post my blog photos and saw that I could multi-task by promoting my blog and follow my favorite brands at the same time!

Flickr

There are so many reasons that Flickr is superior to other photo hosting services, that it would be a huge loss for designers and Second Life residents if it shuts down. Would you support a service that you use for pleasure or for profit, for $50/year? Many brands in SL don’t even update their blog nowadays, so they rely on the social power of Flickr to share their new releases. And what will become of “flickr bloggers”, if they can no longer credit brands and post links? If you find value in Flickr, it’s time to go pro before it bites the dust.

If you want to remain a FREE Flickr account, here’s what you need to do to not have your account terminated:

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