Common Sense PR

JPG Magazine and Flickr Follow the Digg Route to User Backlash

by Eric Eggertson on May 15th, 2007

As if the revolt of Digg users wasn’t enough of a clue to social media companies, we now have revolts by the contributors to JPG Magazine and Flickr.

At JPG, the investors and CEO have squeezed out the founders over an apparent attempt to de-emphasize the magazine’s humble beginnings as a group art/publishing project. The first six issues have been removed from the site, insulting Derek Powazek and Heather Champ, and infuriating the photographers. A mention of the founders, and a link to the first issues, is on the JPG site, but I’m not sure when it was added.

The users, who produce the artwork that drives the traffic to the site and fills the pages of the print magazine, say they are leaving in droves, and taking their photography with them.

Flickr, meanwhile, is facing a mini-revolt after a staffer deleted a photo and comment thread about Rebekka Guthleifsdottir and her experience trying to resolve a dispute with a company that was using some of her photos commercially without her permission.

Popular and successful Flickr old school member Thomas Hawk is raising a stink about what he calls censorship by Flickr and its owner Yahoo. Flickr members demanded an apology, and the Icelandic art student got one.

Meanwhile, the site where she claims her images were being illegally sold has posted nothing to acknowledge the dispute. You can expect continued unpleasant attention, and possibly harassment by the motley rabble calling for justice.

My new Flickr ‘buddy icon’:

This newfound sense of power by contributors to group-powered sites is not going away soon. Maintaining a good relationship between the company providing the space for people to play in, and the players, calls for a lot of open communication, including listening and taking part in discussions about the terms of service, the rights and obligations of both users and site owners. Users have responsibilities, too. But the real pain happens if the users just leave, as it looks like they’re doing with JPG.

Digg faced a revolt, and gave in to the civil disobedience its users wanted to engage in. Other sites will face similar challenges, as the citizens of these online communities encounter increasingly annoying examples that the proprietors are taking them for granted.

Other posts:

• JPG Magazine Flap Shows the Weakness of Corporate Communications
• In Defence of the New JPG Magazine
• Management by Train Wreck: Publisher fires editor by e-mail
• Fast Action in a Crisis Can Get your Message Heard

Tags: flickr, digg, jpg magazine, heather powazek, derek powazek, rebekka guthleifsdottir, icelandic, photographers, users, revolt, yahoo

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POSTED IN: Audiences, Crisis Communications, Ethics, Executive Mindset, Office Politics, Social Media, Visuals