Flickr Adds Videos

A new competitor, of sorts, has emerged to YouTube now that Flickr has added video uploads. But the photo-sharing site apparently wants to stay just that by allowing only short, 90-second clips to supplement the still shots that are its core business. The Flickr folks say the idea is that video can serve as "long photos."

They've also told beta testers like Paul Stamatiou that they want to make sure clips on their site remain "the kind of authentic, personal moments already being shared on Flickr."

In other words, as Stamatiou points out, they want to discourage the copyrighted, commercial video that gets YouTube into hot water. Or, as Larry Dignan puts it: "Is a media giant going to bitch if you take 90 seconds of video? YouTube's 10 minutes can raise a ruckus, but 90 seconds isn't worth the effort."

Unlike YouTube and others, Flickr is also keeping the video club exclusive. Only premium-paying members ($25 a year) can upload clips. But for the price, as Michael Arrington points out, Flickr is offering an "extremely clean" player with the ability to embed videos, as well as all the standard Flickr features, such as tags and descriptions.