The Istockphoto Forum

[cobalt]

"That is because American companies, in their rapacious greed, don't care about community."

Hi Cas,

here I disagreee. Most of the major internet communities com from the US. Actually everybody and their mother is desperately trying to build a community because it is amazing what you can do with it.

All these people working FOR FREE, advertising your site and products FOR FREE, networking inimately with customers and building longterm international  businessrelationships FOR FREE.

Do you have any idea how expensive it is to replace all these work hours with normal, paid staff???

Have a look at this article from CNN:


http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/07/20/google.chairman.interview/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

"Looking back on his decade as Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt said the company should have focused more on connecting people -- a hole that allowed the emergence of rival internet giant Facebook.

Fundamentally, what Facebook has done is built a way to figure out who people are. That system is missing in the internet as a whole. Google should have worked on this earlier," Schmidt, now the executive chairman of Google, said in an interview with CNN."

Personalisation and interconnecting communities is the most important business trend in the internet.

Many companies have a forum, istock had a community where many people devoted endless hours to selflessly promote the community. even something as simple as creating interesting new lightboxes which send their friends and help market our images.

When was the last time you got a request to have images added to your lightboxes??

Maybe some of these people were not the "star photographers" that Getty is looking for now, but they provided the background that allowed the talent to flourish.

I really don�t understand the istock/getty management at all. The community was the most valuable asset of istock. Did they never sit down and calculate how much it will cost to replace it with traditional staff?

And what happens when sombody else builds a community (real community, not just a forum) to nurture talent?

[lagereek]

Canadians always strikes me as having an American complex and I bet most of the wooyayers are in fact Canadians.

what does this even mean Christian? once again, for someone who claims to have so much worldly photography experience, this comment from you is a huge generalization. as Canada is probably the most diverse (as in multicultural) country in the world...one of the things most proud about our country is that we celebrate that diversity rather than requiring assimilation like 'melting pot' nations. painting Canadians with your broad brush just makes you look as ignorant as the blind wooyayers you referred to.

why don't you spend some time in countries before dismissively categorizing them?

Stacey!  I was kidding thats all

[wiser]

Dear Shank_ali

Evidently you have not even read my original post. It really would better enable you to respond 'accurately' to postings if you actually read them first! Take a deep breath and read them again.

It might help (you) if I list chronologically the facts, as I/we see them.

*snip*

Carry on my friend, put your little head a little deeper in the sand and dream on about how things 'used to be' at ISP and how much better those days were. Smart people have moved on and instigated definitive actions to protect their businesses and quality of life but maybe your more dinosaur by nature.

Have a great day.

Great reply but you are wasting your time on Shank.  He only ever hears what he wants to hear and ignores everything else.

True that.

It seems to be his goal in life to rile up others and watch the fun.

I am new to forums, but is this what it means to be a "troll"?

[SNP]

Ah but all Swedes are divorced alcoholic depressives with diabetes and blonde hair. Well at least that's the way it seems in Wallender, so it must be true.

lol. don't they have the highest suicide rate in the world? I've been to Gotheborg...and spent about two weeks in different parts of Denmark too.....both beautiful countries from what I saw, people didn't seem too depressed 

[Jo Ann Snover]

Ah but all Swedes are divorced alcoholic depressives with diabetes and blonde hair. Well at least that's the way it seems in Wallender, so it must be true.

lol. don't they have the highest suicide rate in the world? ...

Not even close - if you buy the data in this chart.

They didn't even make it into the top 10

[SNP]

I was remembering this....http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/22/happiest-places-post-highest-suicide-rates/

[caspixel]

"That is because American companies, in their rapacious greed, don't care about community."

Hi Cas,

here I disagreee. Most of the major internet communities com from the US. Actually everybody and their mother is desperately trying to build a community because it is amazing what you can do with it.

All these people working FOR FREE, advertising your site and products FOR FREE, networking inimately with customers and building longterm international  businessrelationships FOR FREE.

I know you are not from the US, so I can understand how you don't quite understand my cynicism, but as someone who lives here, trust me, they don't care. Like I said, they don't see the faces of the people in the community, they only see the faces on the money they are making from the community. Building a community is a lot different than *caring* about a community. Sure the companies want people to do stuff for them for free, but the authenticity on the part of the company is not there.

[lisafx]

I know you are not from the US, so I can understand how you don't quite understand my cynicism, but as someone who lives here, trust me, they don't care.

An emphatic +1 to that ^^

[madelaide]

You forgot South America.

Actually I just left them out because I couldn't be sure of all the countries off the top of my head. I'm not sure they'd really want to be associated with this mess anyway.

We are Americans too. That's what I always have to remind a USA'er when they say "America" when they really mean "USA".

[cobalt]

Oh, I am sure they don�t care!!! :-)

But they have to understand the dynamics how a community works and what people want to make it work! I am not interested in the plattform managers, I am interested in reaching the people that I would like to connect with. Which is good for my business and good for my circles as well.

The owners, managers can drive rolly royces and bathe in liquid gold, as far as i am concerned.

It is precisely because istock was such a brilliant b2b plattform that i don�t understand why they are not paying attention to it.

They should hire professional community builders to expand it.

Like I said - people were working their asses of for free. What more do you want from a business point? Something like that is paradise!

I just don�t see the business logic in their recent decisions. And we are all seeing the traffic move to Shutterstock as a result.

[cobalt]

But from my experience with US companies I know that they sometimes have amazing short term thinking. Also extremely high turnover of staff.

But they compensate by being extremely flexible. Unfortunately they will often stick to a silly decision until it is too late and significant money is lost. Then they fire someone and finally implement the changes that I as a business partner was demanding for 8 months...

[Jo Ann Snover]

"That is because American companies, in their rapacious greed, don't care about community."

here I disagreee. Most of the major internet communities com from the US. Actually everybody and their mother is desperately trying to build a community because it is amazing what you can do with it....

... they don't see the faces of the people in the community, they only see the faces on the money they are making from the community. ..

I wish I could disagree with caspixel, but sadly, what she says is the way the vast majority of US companies are. Social media and communities are the latest fad and they're trying to exploit that as eagerly as they can. For the most part, US companies are pretty energetic in pursuing opportunity.

Long term thinking, community involvement & responsibility and partnership between executives and the company workforce are very little in evidence at the moment. When the company's exploiting a fad, people can certainly benefit from that for as long as it lasts, but you need a plan B for what to do when they move on because those pesky communities aren't as easy to control and sell stuff to as you first thought.

[cobalt]

"because those pesky communities aren't as easy to control and sell stuff to as you first thought" that and also the amazing transparency that the internet brings forces companies to be a lot more balanced than before.

No more wheeling and dealing behind closed doors. Someone will always talk and then it gets released worldwide. And will be discussed in all social media networks.

The future lies with companies who understand how to create win-win plattforms.

Oherwise the crowd just moves on. The next offer is just a mouseclick away...;-)

Companies in Europe aren�t any more ethical. We just have so many more restrictions that companies have to think more long term. Which makes them less flexible.

[RacePhoto]

You forgot South America.

Actually I just left them out because I couldn't be sure of all the countries off the top of my head. I'm not sure they'd really want to be associated with this mess anyway.

We are Americans too. That's what I always have to remind a USA'er when they say "America" when they really mean "USA".

And Canadians are American's also, as are Mexican's and many others in Central America and South America.

Typical stereotyping of "American's" as fat greedy *insult removed*, driving big fat gas guzzling cars. Hmm, maybe it's not a stereotype after all? 

Problem is not Getty or IS it's H&F who own them and they are an investment company, which means they aren't in this for the long term. The idea is buy, pump it up, dump it for a profit. Easy way to make a quick profit? Cut expenses, cut commissions, and basically screw the artists!

[SNP]

um, no, we're not Americans....we're North American......big difference.

[madelaide]

um, no, we're not Americans....we're North American......big difference.

North Americans are a sub-group of Americans. When we say Columbus discovered America, we refer to the whole continent, even if he's been in just a tiny part of it.

I think Brits also have this thing of referring to the rest of Europe as "continent" or even "Europe", isn't it? As if they were not part of it.

[SNP]

subgroup, huh? I think you may wish to get an atlas. If you're referring to the term "The Americas" that is not the same as saying part of America. "America" refers to one nation, the USA. Canada is not a 'subgroup' of anything, it is one of the nations making up the continent of North America.

Columbus stumbled upon what is now Central America, a subcontinent of NA.

England is part of Europe but they (and other European islanders) sometimes refer to "Continental Europe".

Please read a book about Canada  

[Shank_ali]

The Istock forum will never again be the place it once was.Sad for some but of no concern to the majority.The negatives have outweighed the posatives these past 18 months.They will be further developments this year.I might of inadvertly mentioned some of those in the Istock forum and a slight panic ensued along the line of me being a whistle blower.That was never going to be the case...

[Jo Ann Snover]

Geologic time does run a bit slow, but shifting tectonic plates will take care of all this nitpicking about who is a subset of whom. Scotland and North America were once attached. The Atlantic has done more than Hadrian's Wall as a barrier though

Was there some misunderstanding that needed to get cleared up, or was this just a riff on not liking people referring to the US as America? I don't like the attitude or policies at H&F or GI. I don't like them more or less regardless of where they're located. Wouldn't want to lose sight of the bigger point in a squabble over geographic terminology.

[lagereek]

Ah but all Swedes are divorced alcoholic depressives with diabetes and blonde hair. Well at least that's the way it seems in Wallender, so it must be true.

lol. don't they have the highest suicide rate in the world? I've been to Gotheborg...and spent about two weeks in different parts of Denmark too.....both beautiful countries from what I saw, people didn't seem too depressed 

Not now but in the 70s I think the swedes toped the list, yeah, people have it too good in this country, you know, no wares for about 300 years, etc, politicians are rubbish, so is the climate, apart from that, yes its a beautyful country but it doesnt beat the beauty of the Canadian wilderness.

[cobalt]

"The Istock forum will never again be the place it once was.Sad for some but of no concern to the majority.The negatives have outweighed the posatives these past 18 months.They will be further developments this year.I might of inadvertly mentioned some of those in the Istock forum and a slight panic ensued along the line of me being a whistle blower.That was never going to be the case..."

The forum is a business tool, how can doing business be negative??

The customers are not going over to Shutterstock because they like the Shutterstock forum more. There is very little forum traffic compared to before but that is not bringing the customers back.

Are you trying to say that they are planning to close the forums down???

[SNP]

"The Istock forum will never again be the place it once was.Sad for some but of no concern to the majority.The negatives have outweighed the posatives these past 18 months.They will be further developments this year.I might of inadvertly mentioned some of those in the Istock forum and a slight panic ensued along the line of me being a whistle blower.That was never going to be the case..."

The forum is a business tool, how can doing business be negative??

The customers are not going over to Shutterstock because they like the Shutterstock forum more. There is very little forum traffic compared to before but that is not bringing the customers back.

Are you trying to say that they are planning to close the forums down???

I would take just about everything shank is saying with a big big grain of salt...in London, at one seminar we all had a brief discussion about the tone communication (or lack of it) has taken in the forums. a few contributors expressed their frustration with forum communication and TPTB responded with feedback about their perspective, and that was that. Shank seems to think he was privy to all sorts of big secrets...guess the rest of us must have been snoozing during those disclosures  

[Clivia]

What a fuss about nothing.
The 'Good old days' in the Istock forum consisted mostly of sycophants wooyaying and telling each other and the admins how great they were.
I used to drop in occasionally, and leave feeling sick.

[gostwyck]

What a fuss about nothing.
The 'Good old days' in the Istock forum consisted mostly of sycophants wooyaying and telling each other and the admins how great they were.
I used to drop in occasionally, and leave feeling sick.

That's the truth! It didn't do them any good either __ they got stuffed same as the rest of us.

[caspixel]

But they have to understand the dynamics how a community works and what people want to make it work! I am not interested in the plattform managers, I am interested in reaching the people that I would like to connect with. Which is good for my business and good for my circles as well.

The problem is, they are so myopic in their thinking, they don't care about YOU reaching people YOU want to connect with. Business may be utilizing this tool, but it's pretty obvious when they are not being authentic, at least in my opinion. Take for instance, BP's Facebook page during the oil spill last year. They'd be posting about how great things were going and what a good job they were doing cleaning up the mess they created, but it was so clearly just marketing propaganda. Sure there were some BP evangelists - probably on the payroll - but the vast majority of people could see all that information was just superficial tactics to try to hoodwink the public.

"because those pesky communities aren't as easy to control and sell stuff to as you first thought" that and also the amazing transparency that the internet brings forces companies to be a lot more balanced than before.

No more wheeling and dealing behind closed doors. Someone will always talk and then it gets released worldwide. And will be discussed in all social media networks.

You would think, wouldn't you?! But from where I sit, it seems like they are trying to be even less transparent. And when someone blows the whistle on them, they launch a whole media campaign to discredit any critics and announce to the world how wonderful they are. I have to laugh every time I see a bank or natural gas or oil company commercial on TV telling me how much they care about me.