User:Pikerecords

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Fotki is a popular image hosting website and online communication portal. As of May 21, 2008, it hosts over 181 million images.


History


Fotki was created in 1998 by Dmitri Don (current president) and Katrin Lilleoks (his wife) to store and share digital photos and to communicate with friends and relatives around the world.

It became public and expanded into photo sharing in 1999.

Since then, it has been growing and has become known as one of the largest photo sharing communities on the Internet. As of now, Fotki continues to introduce new features and services[1].


Features


  • Sharing

The primary purpose of the site is to allow and facilitate the process of sharing digital photos. The photo sharing process includes 4 phases:

1) Upload - transfering an image file from a local device, such as computer, camera phone, pocket PC etc to Fotki's server. Fotki provides a variety of tools and applications to simplify the process and to accommodate users of multiple platforms. Some upload applications support the transfer of multiple files at a time.

2) Storage - storing uploaded files on Fotki's servers.

3) Organization and presentation - ability to conveniently organize uploaded files into a structure based on the user's tastes and preferences and present them to viewers. Users can also customize the layout of their site and have access to various management tools, such as moving, copying, editing, deleting etc, which gives them full control over their content.

4) Access - making the digital media available online for viewing and download. The company provides a user-friendly interface for viewing (in several modes) and navigation, variety of search tools to ease the process of finding the needed content and several security options to restrict access to the content if necessary.


  • Upload Tools

1) One at a time: allows uploading one photo at a time through the browser.

2) Java: opens an embedded Java application which allows the user to navigate the local folders, select photos and add them to the upload list. Allows uploading multiple files at a time. Supports image preview for some formats. Requires Java installed on the user's computer.

3) ActiveX: similar to Java, recommended for Internet Explorer users.

4) Fotki Desktop Beta: allows selecting multiple files from local folders and sending them to Fotki using the right-click menu. Requires installation of a plug-in (provided).

5) Web Publishing Wizard: allows uploading multiple files from a local folder using the Windows "Publish to the Web" function. Requires installation of a plug-in (provided).

6) Fotki Upload Bookmarklet: creates a bookmark for a Javascript function which can be run while viewing any web page. All images contained on that page will be extracted and made ready for upload. Internet Explorer is not supported.

7) Fetch from the Internet: a browser-based function that allows the user to copy an image from any web page to Fotki by specifying the image's URL. Supports one image at a time.

8) FTP: allows using a stand-alone FTP program for image upload. Available to Premium, Trial and Free Unlimited members only.

9) E-mail/mobile phone upload: allows upload via e-mail or from a mobile phone. A unique user-specified e-mail address is assigned to the album. Image files can be e-mailed to that address as attachments.

10) Using image management software: supports PicaJet, PictureSync, CompuPic and Spb Imageer for pocket PC.


  • Storage

Owners of Premium, Trial and Free Unlimited accounts get unlimited storage space. Free accounts have a space limit of 50 MB plus the option to get an additional 10 MB every month.


  • Organization

Fotki users can organize their photos into a structure. This can be achieved by grouping albums into folders, creating subfolders, moving albums between folders, moving subfolders between folders, moving and copying photos between albums. Photos, albums and folders can be rearranged.

Users can also add tags (a form of metadata) to their photos so they can be found in search.


  • Management Tools

When logged in, Fotki users have access to management tools which allow editing, moving or deleting their content, changing properties of the content, changing account settings and restricting access to the content if needed.


  • Access

1) Security options To restrict access to their content, Fotki users can use several security options, such as passwords for albums and folders, hidden albums, private section, shared folders, protection from right-click copying, restriction to view originals and to order prints.

2) RSS Fotki features XML-based RSS and Atom feeds.

3) External linking External linking (aka Hotlinking) allows Fotki users to post photos from their Fotki albums on other websites. This feature can be useful for people who write and post pictures on forums, blogs and auctions.

4) Invitations Members can invite other people to view an album using a special invitation form.


  • Customization Options

1) Layout Users can customize the look of their Fotki site by using different pre-designed skins or manually selecting colors for each element on their page. The selected skin will automatically apply to all pages in the user's account. Members can choose to hide the folder tree or not to display albums in it, and also to display or hide various information pertaining to their content. A number of pre-designed photo frames (23 as of now) is available to adorn the photos. Those familiar with HTML can design a completely new look for their photo site using the Co-Branding feature. Premium members have access to more customization options than Free members.

2) User profile Members can create their own "Welcome" and "About Me" pages which may contain as much information about them as the user cares to provide. Filling out the profile is optional.

3) Co-Branding and Name Forwarding This feature (available to Premium members only) allows the user to completely customize their Fotki site, to use a short name (e.g. username.fotki.com) as URL of their site and to even use their own domain name to access their Fotki site while having their photos stored on Fotki's servers. To achieve a high degree of customization, the knowledge of HTML/CSS is very helpful.

4) EXIF info display If the image has any embedded info in it, it will be extracted and displayed. Public display of EXIF info can be disabled by the account owner.

5) Geotagging Fotki supports Google Maps integration for photos with GPS.


  • Community Features

Fotki offers both member search and photo search. Members can be searched by name, profile type, location, gender, age, interest, marital status and more. IPTC keyword searching us supported.

Each Fotki member gets an e-mail account. Fotki e-mail system features a spam filter with 20 levels of sensitivity, address book and the ability to create custom folders to organize messages. Each member has a guest book which can be enabled or disabled. Guest book messages can be public or private. Each individual photo can be commented. Fotki members can create any number of personal blogs and forums.

Fotki runs photo contests on a regular basis. All registered members can participate. Usually, first 3 winners receive a one-year Premium membership, but sometimes there may be other prizes involved if the contest is sponsored by a third party. Effective May 11, 2007[2], Fotki runs a weekly "My Photo Of The Week" contest.


  • Printing

Fotki.com offers high quality photo prints of different sizes and photo mugs at competitive prices[3].


  • Professional Services

Professional photographers can sell their photos at their own price, higher than the printing cost imposed by Fotki. The difference in price is subject to a 15% commission fee and the rest goes to the photographer. Earned money is remitted by PayPal, check or bank transfer. Photographers who offer their photos for sale can upload small size, low-res or watermarked images to avoid theft. When such photo is requested, the photographer has the option to securely upload the full size image.


  • Video sharing

Fotki does not store videos per se, but members can store links to videos hosted by other websites. Video collections are displayed as a list of embedded previews which will enlarge when clicked on. To be accepted, the video has to be stored on video.google.com, youtube.com, metacafe.com, vsocial.com, vids.myspace.com, vimeo.com or dailymotion.com.


  • Privacy And Security

There is a private section in each account visible only to the owner. Albums can be created in the private section or moved there from the public section. Users can set viewing options to allow certain categories of people to view their albums (everybody, Fotki members only, Fotki friends only or just the owner). Albums can be hidden or password protected or both.

Adult content can and should be flagged as "viewers dicretion advised". Fotki's policy prohibits public display of adult content on the site. Public content is monitored by the Fotki staff to prevent appearance of objectionable imagery on public pages. Users can report photos in question using a complaint form. Copyright infringement is also prohibited. Violations of the Terms Of Service[4] may result in blocking the account or membership termination.

Users can view IPs of people who write comments and guest book messages on their site. Also, login names of visitors to a member's personal site are logged and stored in the member's "Guests" section. These options can be turned off.

All sensitive, personal and financial information is transmitted using SSL encryption (https). Personal information including email is not available to the public.


  • Customer Support

The Fotki Customer Service can be contacted[5] by sending an inquiry through the Customer Support Center, by email or phone.


Membership[6]


  • Free account

Has advertising, 50 MB storage space limit and 50 MB e-mail space limit.


  • Premium account:

- No ads are displayed when browsing other Fotki sites, no ads are displayed when other people browse a Premium account.

- Unlimited photo storage space.

- Co-branding.

- Ability to sell photos at custom prices.

- FTP upload.

- Ability to control download of originals.


  • Trial account:

Trial Premium Account. New Fotki members automatically get a two-week-long free Trial Premium membership to try the advanced Premium features. There is no space limit during the Trial period. A Trial account is automatically downgraded to Free after 2 weeks unless the user makes a payment for the Premium membership. Users who choose to let the account revert to Free are allowed to keep all the photos uploaded during the Trial period even if the limit has been exceeded.


Localization

This is an ongoing project. As of now, the site is partially translated to Russian, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese Simplified, Japanese, Polish, Dutch, Turkish, Brazilian Portuguese, Estonian, Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Ukrainian and Hebrew. With the help from volunteers, Fotki continues to translate its pages and improve the existing translation. Volunteers are rewarded with Premium memberships for contributing to the project.


Criticism

Fotki has been mostly criticized for not providing enough storage space to its Free members, no video upload functionality and incomplete localization of the site. Complaints about downtime, print orders and upload problems are rare.


Controversies and Discussions


  • Censorship and Artistic Nudity

In May 2006, a photo of a nearly-nude female was removed from a Fotki contest by the moderators. This initiated a prolonged discussion on "artistic nudity". The author of the disqualified entry criticized Fotki for censorship and questioned its policy on nudity. After exchanging arguments, the Fotki side agreed to review the site's policy in favor of artistic photography while the decision to prohibit adult content in public sections of the site was upheld in compliance with the law.


  • Contest Rules

In October 2006, several Fotki members posted messages in the Fotki blog protesting against the then-current contest rules which apparently allowed the earlier entrants to receive more exposure and thus get more votes. Other major issues brought up by the users included maintaining anonimity of entries while voting is in progress, allowing non-paying members to participate, working out a better formula for calculating the scores, allowing image editing and enhancement. A heated discussion[7] that involved many Fotki members quickly gave rise to a rigorous campaign to make the administration change the contest rules. As a result, a new contest system was introduced and new rules developed.


References

http://www.killerstartups.com/Social-Networking/fotki--Photo-Portal/ Fotki.com is one of the world's largest social networking sites. - August 2007

http://www.webware.com/8301-13546_109-9729705-29.html Webware 100 Award Winner - June 2007

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/11/prweb308317.htm At a pitching contest Fotki stood out because they are real. - November 2005

http://www.paulkatcher.com/archives/000795.shtml Fotki Is F...ing Fantastic - September 2005

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6451_7-6245143-1.html CNET Review - October 2005

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/17/AR2007081700824.html Washington Post Review - August 2007

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/08/26/BU65096.DTL&hw=Fotki&sn=001&sc=1000 ...[Fotki] gives you a plethora of photo management tools (David Einstein, SFGate) - August 2002

http://www.photographybay.com/2007/12/03/flickr-alternatives/ While Fotki is easy to use, it has a lot of different options that can be overwhelming at first. - December 2007

http://talkback.zdnet.com/5208-12694-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=37452&messageID=703329 User comment about Fotki - September 2007

http://downloads.zdnet.com/download.aspx?docid=315165 PictureSync Overview - September 2007

http://www.jonforrent.com/2007/05/30/is-flickr-the-only-choice/#comments Is Flickr the only choice? - May 2007

http://www.dayafteryesterday.com/2007/11/26/dear-fotki/ Dear Fotki - November 2007

http://photo-sharing-services-review.toptenreviews.com/fotki-review.html Fotki is easy to use and the premium service is reasonably priced

http://photo-sharing-services-review.toptenreviews.com/ Fotki gets a Top Ten Reviews Bronze award

http://healthytextures.typepad.com/my_journey_to_healthy_hai/2007/12/daily-discussio.html Do You Have a Fotki or Picture Album?? - December 2007

http://coarsehair.blogspot.com/2008/01/new-year-new-fotki.html New Year, New Fotki! - January 2008

http://dannythorpe.com/2008/03/08/fotki_mediarss_piclens/ Photo sharing site Fotki.com has implemented mediaRSS feeds... - March 2008

http://bstuffetc.wordpress.com/2007/06/12/fotkicom-picture-hosting-problems/ Fotki.com picture hosting problems - June 2007

http://halcyontravelersblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/flickr-vs-fotki.html Flickr vs Fotki - December 2007

http://superjason.com/archive/2008/01/19/moving-from-fotki-to-flickr.aspx Moving from Fotki to Flickr - January 2008

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0509/05091901fotkiupdate.asp Fotki updates site, announces new pricing - September 2005

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0110/01102701fotkipremiumservice.asp Fotki introduces premium member service - October 2001

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/fotki.com/?metric=uv Visitors Statistics - March 2008

http://www.crunchbase.com/company/fotki Review and traffic analysis - February 2008

http://www.tradevibes.com/company/profile/fotki Review and statistics - April 2008

http://www.allthingsweb2.com/mtree/IMAGES_2.0/Fotki/details/ All Things Web Review - November 2006

http://www.starreviews.com/Fotki.aspx Review at Star Reviews

http://www.photographyreview.com/cat/online-imaging-services/photo-sharing-and-printing/fotki/PRD_142769_3092crx.aspx Review at PhotographyReview.com

http://rolandlim.wordpress.com/2007/09/03/fotki-traffic-limit/ Fotki Traffic Limit - September 2007

http://www.printrates.com/fotki.php PrintRates summary

http://www.xomreviews.com/fotki.com Review on Xomreviews

http://www.pictavision.com/fotki/ How Pictavision works with Fotki

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/4/prweb230488.htm Fotki slashed prices on online photo printing - April 2005

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/9/prweb285877.htm Fotki releases a global update - September 2005

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/10/prweb292231.htm Fotki celebrates its 60,000,000th photo - October 2005


External links

www.fotki.com Official website

http://help.fotki.com/fotki-pricing/ Fotki pricelist on photo prints

http://about.fotki.com/ About Fotki.com

http://about.fotki.com/contact_us/ Contact Fotki

http://help.fotki.com/terms/ Fotki Terms of Service

http://help.fotki.com/privacy/ Fotki Privacy Policy

http://about.fotki.com/testimonials/ User Testimonials

http://pfs.fotki.com/ PFS (Personal Fotki Server)


Footnotes:

1 Fotki "Timeline And Details" page http://about.fotki.com/details/

2 "Fotki Weekly Contest Is Back!" blog entry http://journals.fotki.com/fotkicom/fotkiblog/entry/sgdrkwswkks/

3 Fotki Pricing http://help.fotki.com/fotki-pricing/

4 Fotki Terms Of Service http://help.fotki.com/terms/

5 Fotki "Contact Us" page http://about.fotki.com/contact_us/

6 Account Types: Premium Membership vs. Free Account (Help article) http://help.fotki.com/premium-vs-free/

7 Comments to the ""My Pet's Coolest Pic" Test Photo Contest" blog entry http://journals.fotki.com/fotkicom/fotkiblog/entry/srdkdqrbdbf/