In so many consumer activities the consumer is told how to use a particular product. In the technology sector, however, this practice is almost discouraged. Once people figure out how a particular technology product works they will use it as they see fit, not how somebody else deems fit.

How it was supposed to be used

One of these particular product areas is family photo sharing. A customer/user can simply upload a photo to an online photo sharing site or album service like Epson online photo albums. Once an image is posted it can be used for family photo sharing or to create a family album. This is how the process was supposed to work, and work well it did. The process, however, was not how the average user saw the process working.

How it is being used

In today’s photo sharing sites marketplace the whole process is undergoing a “fine tuning” of sorts. The online photo albums approach was nice but it did not quite appeal to the individual. The process was more family based. Although there is an ongoing evolution at work, people want an individual approach or an approach that links them up with people of like photo image interests. One particular group likes images of dog noses while another something else. But as is often the case in all other things internet people will flock together and this is what is happening in the photo sharing websites arena.

Top sites

Classifying one photo sharing site against another is difficult, but if looked at from a general numbers and user point of view, an idea of which photo sharing sites rank where can be approximated. Looking at a set of sites from a numbers point of view it is readily apparent that Photobucket is the leader among photo sharing sites. It may or may not be the leading site but in terms of the number of people using the site it is the number one site. For the most part, this ranking is attributed to its primary use as a tool on MySpace.com. Other leaders according to MySpace usage numbers include:

• Image Shack

• Tiny Pick

• Imgdump.net

• Flicker

Two worlds

The differences between a numbers leader like Photobucket and a user interface perspective is the ever changing dynamic between mainstream photo albums and the social networking aspect of photo sharing. Although Photobucket may be the photo sharing choice in the social networking category a package like Flickr can be said to be a leader in the mainstream photo sharing world. These users may be more accustom to using something along the lines of Epson online photo albums.

Meet in the middle

As is usually the case in these technology oriented situations the two will come together to create a common form that all may be comfortable with. Right now, there are many ideas as to what works best. Some photo sharing sites do better in one aspect and others do better in other areas. There is, at the moment, still a flux in the market. Where it will land is not yet certain.