Author Topic: Best Match 2.0 (Read 44562 times)

CofkoCof · « **Reply #100 on:** January 31, 2009, 04:32 »

A little update on the best match from this topic:

Quote

So you can probably tell that a lot of things have been happening here at headquarters in the deep plumbing on the site. You've seen the first results of the ranked keywords in the enhanced "More Like This" feature. You seem excited by it, and we certainly are.

We've been testing best match 2.0 with ranked keywords internally on our dev environment for quite some time. Before we push it live, we want to try it on the live data to see exactly how it goes. So next week, along with some other tweaks, best match 2.0 will be launched as an internal beta. Yup, admins will be able to select it from the drop-down menu of search results. If all goes well, you'll see it pushed live about a week after that. We're not giving an exact date yet, as we have a lot of other stuff to get our the door (CSS & Audio for example). But rest assured we're moving as quickly as we can.

The next few months is going to be very exiting. Once we give birth to Audio, many things will be coming to fruition after a long time in the pipeline.

Thanks!

borg · « **Reply #101 on:** January 31, 2009, 05:45 »

From that topic on IS:

It is good news! Especially that, that the search results we get today are not generated by BM2. Info like this can save a lot of speculation.

Perhaps this can explain none of the sale from last Friday in my portfolio ...
Before that,January was excellent...

So, is "Best Match 2.0." working now or not!?

I like it veeery much!!

CofkoCof · « **Reply #102 on:** January 31, 2009, 06:31 »

Look at the bold text:

Quote

So you can probably tell that a lot of things have been happening here at headquarters in the deep plumbing on the site. You've seen the first results of the ranked keywords in the enhanced "More Like This" feature. You seem excited by it, and we certainly are.

We've been testing best match 2.0 with ranked keywords internally on our dev environment for quite some time. Before we push it live, we want to try it on the live data to see exactly how it goes. So next week, along with some other tweaks, best match 2.0 will be launched as an internal beta. Yup, admins will be able to select it from the drop-down menu of search results. If all goes well, you'll see it pushed live about a week after that. We're not giving an exact date yet, as we have a lot of other stuff to get our the door (CSS & Audio for example). But rest assured we're moving as quickly as we can.

The next few months is going to be very exiting. Once we give birth to Audio, many things will be coming to fruition after a long time in the pipeline.

Thanks!

shank_ali · « **Reply #103 on:** January 31, 2009, 10:13 »

Contributors on istockphoto are wrongly assuming this new best match 2.0 is going to increase sales across the board.
The fact remains sales are down as Mr Thompson explained..."snip"..The target for January was nearly met thanks to a good 2nd part of January.
Why do so many contributors still think this new best match is for there benifit ??
It's designed to help the buyers.

yecatsdoherty · « **Reply #104 on:** January 31, 2009, 11:53 »

I've not had a sale in over 24 hours.....when normally I would have almost 50 by now. I'm feeling fairly certain that my iStock career has suddenly tanked. I was doing so well, consistently up until the end of November, none of the best match shakes really affected me for over a year. now right before hitting gold, my sales have been steadily declining. it started around 30% decrease from one day to the next, and now not one sale in almost two days.

I find the announcement inadequate. it is like most of the announcements. sounds great, all the right words, but it doesn't really tell me anything new.

I am pretty upset about all of this, though I realize for many it is working out. I am not fooling myself that they care whether I remain exclusive or not. but if this continues for more than a month, I will be checking out some of the other sites. I don't want to depend on IS completely.

sharply_done · « **Reply #105 on:** January 31, 2009, 12:17 »

Quote from: yecatsdoherty on January 31, 2009, 11:53

...
I am pretty upset about all of this, though I realize for many it is working out. I am not fooling myself that they care whether I remain exclusive or not. but if this continues for more than a month, I will be checking out some of the other sites. I don't want to depend on IS completely.

From my perspective, I think your IS income will remain relatively unchanged for at least several months. As I understand it the only thing to be further implemented in the best match is some sort of mysterious ranked keywording tweak, whose purpose is to place a lower rank on and/or weed out images that the buyer probably isn't looking for. Your ranking in the search query, and thus your income, will most likely remain unchanged.

Your income is only going to change when they introduce the next best match change, which happens something on the order of three times per year. The Sept 07 best match change caused my sales to level off. My sales have dropped in the last two consecutive best match changes: one in May 08, and one in Sept 08. Although this latest best match change has seen my sales improve to 70+% of their 'previous normal', I had to suffer through eight months of lowered IS income to get it <see chart>. You'd be wise to plan for something similar.

yecatsdoherty · « **Reply #106 on:** January 31, 2009, 12:27 »

I'm almost certain you are correct and very disappointed. you are not exclusive. were you exclusive at any point? would you ever consider exclusivity? I may need to change my exclusivity, not only because of this situation. but the latest changes are the straw that broke the camel's back for me.

I felt a little bit wary of IS and their announcements close to a year ago. though I was not negatively affected, I watched a number of my hard-working colleagues go through what it sounds like you went through. since then, the IS glow has certainly been tempered with a healthy dose of reality.

now I am seriously considering my options. this is not an arbitrary game to me. this is career path that I have invested deeply in. I wonder if remaining exclusive is shooting myself in the foot. I am quite ambitious, quite connected through my writing and photography....and I am definitely not a wallflower. I wonder if I would do much better marketing myself through a variety of sites and avenues.

ahhhh...brutal. not a decision I thought I would have to make this soon but my sales are hideous.

sharply_done · « **Reply #107 on:** January 31, 2009, 12:36 »

You should be aware that if you decide to drop your exclusivity with IS, all the images you uploaded as an exclusive will be removed. This is done so that people do not take advantage of the increased upload limits and then switch back to non-exclusive once their portfolio is 'large enough'. (Here's the contract - see Section 12.a.(i))

Those deciding to go exclusive would do well to take this into account before 'making the jump'. A good strategy might be to hold back on uploading your best imagery until the two or three weeks immediately preceding your exclusivity application.

yecatsdoherty · « **Reply #108 on:** January 31, 2009, 12:57 »

Quote from: sharply_done on January 31, 2009, 12:36

You should be aware that if you decide to drop your exclusivity with IS, all the images you uploaded as an exclusive will be removed. This is done so that people do not take advantage of the increased upload limits and then switch back to non-exclusive once their portfolio is 'large enough'. (Here's the contract - see Section 12.a.(i))

Those deciding to go exclusive would do well to take this into account before 'making the jump'. A good strategy might be to hold back on uploading your best imagery until the two or three weeks immediately preceding your exclusivity application.

well then I am stuck, because there are no images left in my port that were pre-exclusive. I culled most of my old stuff that wasn't selling last year.

guess I'll remain exclusive then.

fotografer · « **Reply #109 on:** January 31, 2009, 13:06 »

Wow, I didn't know that, it makes it a really tough decision for people to give up exclusivity.

Quote from: sharply_done on January 31, 2009, 12:36

You should be aware that if you decide to drop your exclusivity with IS, all the images you uploaded as an exclusive will be removed.

gostwyck · « **Reply #110 on:** January 31, 2009, 13:14 »

Quote from: sharply_done on January 31, 2009, 12:36

You should be aware that if you decide to drop your exclusivity with IS, all the images you uploaded as an exclusive will be removed. This is done so that people do not take advantage of the increased upload limits and then switch back to non-exclusive once their portfolio is 'large enough'. (Here's the contract - see Section 12.a.(i))

Those deciding to go exclusive would do well to take this into account before 'making the jump'. A good strategy might be to hold back on uploading your best imagery until the two or three weeks immediately preceding your exclusivity application.

Wow __ I wasn't aware of that either! That's a major ball and chain around the feet of anyone attempting to flee exclusivity. Great news for independents though.

cdwheatley · « **Reply #111 on:** January 31, 2009, 13:27 »

According to this thread posted yesterday it appears best match 2.0 is still not live yet.
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=83392&page=1

only the "find similar" function is active.

It looks to me like there are still to many old images dominating current best match search. I'm guessing things will look different when they finally release this thing. Then again, who knows!!

good info sharply on exclusivity, I wonder how many people knew that.

Gannet77 · « **Reply #112 on:** January 31, 2009, 14:37 »

Quote from: sharply_done on January 31, 2009, 12:36

You should be aware that if you decide to drop your exclusivity with IS, all the images you uploaded as an exclusive will be removed. This is done so that people do not take advantage of the increased upload limits and then switch back to non-exclusive once their portfolio is 'large enough'. (Here's the contract - see Section 12.a.(i))

Those deciding to go exclusive would do well to take this into account before 'making the jump'. A good strategy might be to hold back on uploading your best imagery until the two or three weeks immediately preceding your exclusivity application.

I never realised this either, but do they actually do it?

AzureLaRoux (Nancy Walker) cancelled exclusivity back in September, but currently has 630 images in her portfolio. I don't know how many she had before becoming exclusive, but it seems unlikely it was that many - it also seems unlikely she has resubmitted and had accepted that many since then, given the 15/week limit for non-exclusives.

Are you here Nancy? Could you let us know if iStock really did remove all your exclusive uploads?

anaire · « **Reply #113 on:** January 31, 2009, 15:54 »

Hi Stacey,
Over the past few days I read your posts on Istock forums. You're vivacious and straight forward and I like that.
But there is something else you need to keep in mind.
At IStock they keep on feeding you this idea that IS is the 8-th wonder of the world and all other sites are nothing but crappy mediocrity.
It is not true.
I don't like IS and don't want you stuck there, but think twice!
Some of your files, including old flames, have little chance of passing the reviewers of today.
You'll be losing quite a number of them, no to mention all the extra bonuses.
If you really want to leave IS, you need to take things step by step and think in advance.
Good luck and hope things turn for the better!
One day soon you may be able to break free...
Anna

yecatsdoherty · « **Reply #114 on:** January 31, 2009, 16:08 »

Quote from: anaire on January 31, 2009, 15:54

Hi Stacey,
Over the past few days I read your posts on Istock forums. You're vivacious and straight forward and I like that.
But there is something else you need to keep in mind.
At IStock they keep on feeding you this idea that IS is the 8-th wonder of the world and all other sites are nothing but crappy mediocrity.
It is not true.
I don't like IS and don't want you stuck there, but think twice!
Some of your files, including old flames, have little chance of passing the reviewers of today.
You'll be losing quite a number of them, no to mention all the extra bonuses.
If you really want to leave IS, you need to take things step by step and think in advance.
Good luck and hope things turn for the better!
One day soon you may be able to break free...
Anna

Hi Anna - I am not going to leave my exclusivity for now. I think it would be a poor decision on my part. and I agree about my older images. in fact as we speak I am culling my old files, which is probably partly why my sales have tanked. I am removing all zero dl files, which I do every new year.

as for the IS 8th wonder of the world thing...I don't want to get nasty, but there is truth to that and I see it. I think were I beginning today I would not go exclusive. but now that I'm here, I'm here. I don't for a moment believe they are the be all and end all though. many of the other sites are also really really good. but you can't argue that Getty was only interested in one, iStock. so my gut tells me to stick it out, but I'm not doing it blindly or with some inflated ideology like the IS world would have people believe.

shank_ali · « **Reply #115 on:** January 31, 2009, 16:45 »

FACT.....Istockphoto allows us to showcase our work for sale,without it alot of contributors would be F ***** !
Count your blessings and try to think back to when you started and made your first sale.
Seems to me because collectively we make istockphoto alot of money we seem to be less grateful.

photoagogo · « **Reply #116 on:** January 31, 2009, 19:30 »

Quote from: sharply_done on January 31, 2009, 12:36

You should be aware that if you decide to drop your exclusivity with IS, all the images you uploaded as an exclusive will be removed. This is done so that people do not take advantage of the increased upload limits and then switch back to non-exclusive once their portfolio is 'large enough'. (Here's the contract - see Section 12.a.(i))

Those deciding to go exclusive would do well to take this into account before 'making the jump'. A good strategy might be to hold back on uploading your best imagery until the two or three weeks immediately preceding your exclusivity application.

That really is messed up. From the 'go exclusive' material you would never realise that is the case. It looks like those who are already exclusive has no choice but to stay that way if they have large portfolios.

The way they sell it suggests its a simple, 'go independent, wait 90 days, go exclusive again' kind of deal. This small print is really sneaky. Thanks for pointing it out. I bet most exclusives don't realise what would actually happen.

travelstock · « **Reply #117 on:** January 31, 2009, 20:15 »

Well personally I hope that best match 2.0 has some changes from what is in place now, and the posted info gives some hope for that to happen - January is the first month that my sales are lower than the corresponding time in a previous year - I'm hoping this isn't a sign to come for the coming year. Considering that my portfolio has increased from 447 to 877 in the same time its a big drop.

Still I'll keep on uploading and hope for a change.

Happily my rank on FT increased to Silver last week which seems to have brought with it an increase in sales there too.

lisafx · « **Reply #118 on:** January 31, 2009, 20:57 »

Quote from: sharply_done on January 31, 2009, 12:36

You should be aware that if you decide to drop your exclusivity with IS, all the images you uploaded as an exclusive will be removed. This is done so that people do not take advantage of the increased upload limits and then switch back to non-exclusive once their portfolio is 'large enough'. (Here's the contract - see Section 12.a.(i))

Those deciding to go exclusive would do well to take this into account before 'making the jump'. A good strategy might be to hold back on uploading your best imagery until the two or three weeks immediately preceding your exclusivity application.

Wow! That's harsh! I can see the reasoning behind it but it seems a bit heavy handed IMO. I liked the old days when istock used the carrot to get and hold exclusives, rather than the stick.

Stacey, even without this penalty for dropping exclusivity, I think you are wise to wait until at least a few weeks in to the launch of best match 2 before deciding. I am emotional and passionate about things, like I can tell that you are. But usually when I make a decision in haste or out of anger it turns out badly.

I am really enjoying the sales I am having the last few weeks, but I don't think it will last. I am pretty certain istock will be giving the exclusives another big boost soon. Maybe each individual exclusive is expendable, but not a large number of them and surely istock will want to keep you guys happy.

yecatsdoherty · « **Reply #119 on:** February 01, 2009, 01:23 »

Quote from: lisafx on January 31, 2009, 20:57

Wow! That's harsh! I can see the reasoning behind it but it seems a bit heavy handed IMO. I liked the old days when istock used the carrot to get and hold exclusives, rather than the stick.

Stacey, even without this penalty for dropping exclusivity, I think you are wise to wait until at least a few weeks in to the launch of best match 2 before deciding. I am emotional and passionate about things, like I can tell that you are. But usually when I make a decision in haste or out of anger it turns out badly.

I am really enjoying the sales I am having the last few weeks, but I don't think it will last. I am pretty certain istock will be giving the exclusives another big boost soon. Maybe each individual exclusive is expendable, but not a large number of them and surely istock will want to keep you guys happy.

yeah for sure. I know not to make knee jerk decisions. passion can lead you into very good, but also very bad and hasty decisions. I know myself well enough not to make any decisions like that. I have often revisited my exclusivity. I've talked about it with you many times before. the last time was when a good friend was losing a lot of income. when I saw what happened to him, it really scared me even though at the time my sales were steady.

I am chalking this all up to a learning experience, and I certainly do not hope they make best match changes along exclusive/non-exclusivity lines....I'm waiting it out. as always I'm very appreciative of your suggestions. you're very generous with guidance.

anaire · « **Reply #120 on:** February 01, 2009, 01:24 »

Hi Stacey,
I'm sure Lisa is right. Hang on there, things will get better!
January was a lousy month all over the board. IS is not the only one experiencing lower sales.
However, be wise and think ahead. Start building a secondary port, something handy to fall back on if times turn bad again.
Better safe than sorry, right?
Meanwhile I'll still be waiting for your naked photos!
I kind wait to watch them, (the men I mean), go bananas

Good luck Stacey, better times are right around the corner!
Anna

yecatsdoherty · « **Reply #121 on:** February 01, 2009, 02:10 »

Quote from: anaire on February 01, 2009, 01:24

Hi Stacey,
I'm sure Lisa is right. Hang on there, things will get better!
January was a lousy month all over the board. IS is not the only one experiencing lower sales.
However, be wise and think ahead. Start building a secondary port, something handy to fall back on if times turn bad again.
Better safe than sorry, right?
Meanwhile I'll still be waiting for your naked photos!
I kind wait to watch them, (the men I mean), go bananas
Good luck Stacey, better times are right around the corner!
Anna

***
thanks Anna - I'll keep you posted on the nudity....lol. that is a great idea about a secondary portfolio.....but I think ultimately exclusivity is like golden handcuffs.....can't really take them off once you're quite invested. and I;m not sure that it wouldn't hurt me the most to dump the crown. I'm not about to take it off in a huff.

jsnover · « **Reply #122 on:** February 01, 2009, 03:00 »

Isn't it possible that you're misreading the termination clause? I think that what they're addressing is that they have the right to take 30 days to stop selling all the content if you leave the site altogether. IOW, that this clause isn't talking about a switch from exclusive to non?

If it's an issue for anyone, I'd suggest contacting contributor relations to see if this delete your exclusive uploads interpretation is really correct.

shank_ali · « **Reply #123 on:** February 01, 2009, 03:26 »

Quote from: jsnover on February 01, 2009, 03:00

Isn't it possible that you're misreading the termination clause? I think that what they're addressing is that they have the right to take 30 days to stop selling all the content if you leave the site altogether. IOW, that this clause isn't talking about a switch from exclusive to non?

If it's an issue for anyone, I'd suggest contacting contributor relations to see if this delete your exclusive uploads interpretation is really correct.

Ask in the "secret forum"

Gannet77 · « **Reply #124 on:** February 01, 2009, 05:15 »

Quote from: jsnover on February 01, 2009, 03:00

Isn't it possible that you're misreading the termination clause? I think that what they're addressing is that they have the right to take 30 days to stop selling all the content if you leave the site altogether. IOW, that this clause isn't talking about a switch from exclusive to non?

If it's an issue for anyone, I'd suggest contacting contributor relations to see if this delete your exclusive uploads interpretation is really correct.

That's sort of what I wondered. It would seem counter productive for iStock to remove large numbers of presumably good selling files just because someone renounced exclusivity, especially given that from then on they would be making more money from them.

Can anyone who has actually done this shed any light on it?

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Author Topic: Best Match 2.0 (Read 44562 times)

CofkoCof

borg

CofkoCof

shank_ali

yecatsdoherty

sharply_done

yecatsdoherty

sharply_done

yecatsdoherty

fotografer

gostwyck

cdwheatley

Gannet77

anaire

yecatsdoherty

shank_ali

photoagogo

travelstock

lisafx

yecatsdoherty

anaire

yecatsdoherty

jsnover

shank_ali

Gannet77

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