Wild Apricot Blog : What are the Barriers to Using Flickr in Your Nonprofit?


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What are the Barriers to Using Flickr in Your Nonprofit?

We received the following comment in response to a recent post about “Five ways nonprofits can use Flickr to reach new audiences”:

"You're right, Flickr has a ton of potential for all kinds of cool social applications for clubs, charities and associations. My favorite is using a photo pool for a conference along with one of those Flash badges to shuffle and display those images on a web page. I actually still have one up from ASAE2006 at my blog, about half way down the nav bar. I just don't understand why more people aren't using Flickr. I spoke to a group of about 30-40 association execs a few weeks ago, and none of them had a Flickr account."

The comment raises a really good point and I could not agree more. Why aren't more people using Flickr? Here are some of the most common reasons we've heard:

Takes too much time to maintain
Our members are not technical enough to use it
I want to do it but I procrastinate because I am not sure what the practical steps are
The usage pattern and specific benefits to our members and our organization are unclear
How do we deal with lack of control?
How can we measure results?

But I'm sure that there are many others. So I’d like to open this question up for discussion and hear your thoughts on why your nonprofit, club, charity or association is not using Flickr. What barriers inside or outside your organization are preventing you from using Flickr and what tools or tips would help you get started? Feel free to be open and honest with your feedback. We really want to know what you think.
nptech nonprofit web2.0

Published Tuesday, April 24, 2007 12:18 PM by Creative Apricot

Filed under: Associations, Non-profit technology, General non-profit interest, nptech, Web 2.0

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	Michael Stein said: Organizations are frequently wary of posting their public media on a public website - they see it as a privacy issue. Since their goal for the material is to disseminate it, not secure it, in the majority of cases this is a false concern. But the fear of loss of control over media by hosting it publicly instead of behind the firewall is common. April 25, 2007 9:40 AM
	Carol Southern said: Flickr froze up my poor 7-year-old computer at work. May 4, 2007 3:36 AM
	Nancy said: I agree with Michael Stein. Since I have worked in corporate communications and I know the drill when it comes to personal and business privacy, it is clearly a matter of losing control over the information. Not only can the photos be copied, but you are exposing yourself and personal details in your photos to the world. Remember a picture is worth a 1000 words. There is a lot you are telling the world in that one shot of the family trip at Disney World. June 6, 2007 2:02 PM
	Wild Apricot Blog said: Today marks a special day for the Wild Apricot team - it's a one year birthday for our product and our July 3, 2007 10:14 AM
	Wild Apricot Blog said: If cost has been one of the barriers to using Flickr in your nonprofit's outreach efforts, this may tip the balance. The photo-sharing service announced today that it has teamed up with TechSoup, in a new program called Flickr for Good, to give away 10,000 March 5, 2008 6:06 PM

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What are the Barriers to Using Flickr in Your Nonprofit?

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