It's only today that I got aware of the changes that Shutterstock had implemented in the buyer's account. Now looks pretty much like Depositphotos'.
It's obvious that Depositphotos is now under great attention of the managers of large microstocks who started copying their innovations (for instance, a month ago, Fotolia announced a free subscription giving 25 images).
Also, one can come across Dreamstime's banners that visibly resemble Depositphotos' ones.
If top-ranked microstocks imitate newcomers, they should be concerned of losing a big share.
Not that it's bad in relation to the other microstocks, but I wouldn't like my earnings at Shuterstock to be impacted in a bad way.
Anyway, I really enjoy watching microstocks copying each other's ideas trying to hold their ground. Seems like somebody's got lack of creative thinking...
Sure, it's pretty easy to duplicate the features of new fast-growing microstocks since it can be always shown like a newcomer imitates a dinosaur. But we know for sure who owns the ideas. I'm not saying that DP invented a wheel when they started their growth in the industry. But we're not talking about using the scheme that is as old as the industry itself, but about simply copying fresh ideas.
If I were a manager of any large microstock who'd stolen features and ideas from the others, I'd pay bigger attention to the creative staff instead of switching it among agencies. There's no harm in looking anew just like Depositphotos does.