 | In part 4 of this series, I will look at resources that will allow you to track photos of interest, and to receive photos via RSS feeds. Just a reminder - links to all of the hacks in this series are available as a OPML file and as a HTML directory for later ease of use. If you have any hacks you wish to contribute, feel free to add comments or trackbacks to the posts, and I will add them to the list. |
| 31. Tracking photos of interest using Flickr |
| Flickr is one of the most well-known photo sharing services. You can upload photos to the service and share them in several ways. Flickr creates a RSS or Atom feed for photos that you upload to your account. The standard form of a Flickr account URL is http://www.flickr.com/photos/accountname. At the bottom of a user's main account page (for example, Dave Winer or Roland Tanglao), you can find text links on the lower right corner of the page for RSS or Atom feeds for that account. |
| Another way to look for pictures on Flickr is by using photo tags. Flickr users can assign tags (text names) to photos uploaded to their account. You can search for tagged photos using the Flickr search page. Type in a search term or terms in the text box marked "Search with one or more tags" and click on the Search button. The results page will show a set of the most recent photos tagged with that search term or terms. At the bottom of the page, you can find text links on the lower right corner of the page for RSS or Atom feeds for that search term or terms. |
| 32. Tracking photos of interest using Buzznet |
| From Buzznet's About page, Buzznet "features an easy-to-use interface and powerful tools to create your own photoblog and start sharing your photos with your friends and meet friends from around the world." |
| Buzznet supports a number of RSS and Atom feeds. There are feeds for most popular and most recent photos. The general form for user account feeds is |
| -RSS: http://{USER NAME}.buzznet.com/user/rss/rss10.xml?type=synd |
| -ATOM: http://{USER NAME}.buzznet.com/user/atom/atom03.xml?type=synd |
| 33. Tracking photos of interest using Gada.be |
| The mega search engine Gada.be has an option to search for photos. To perform a search, go to the home page, type in a search term or terms in the text box, and click on the "go" button. The results page will show photos from several photo services. |
| After generating the results page, you can add a "/opml" to the end of the search URL and get a OPML file with search queries for a number of search engines using the the search terms you entered in the gada.be search. This file can then be imported into your favorite RSS reader to generate more search results on demand. Chris Pirillo has more information on using Gada.be in his initial announcement of the Gada.be service and in this update on the capabilities of Gada.be. |
| 34. Tracking photos of interest using Fotothing |
| From the Fotothing About page, "Fotothing is like a blog, with photos instead of words - a photoblog. Fotothing allows you to share your latest and greatest photos with your friends, family and the world." |
| To search for photos, go to the home page and click on the Tags link on the left side of the page. This will show a list of the most popular tags on Fotothing. You can click on any of the tags listed there to see a selection of photos with that tag. An orange "RSS 2.0" button will appear just above the photos. You can add the link from this buttons to your RSS reader or aggregator to subscribe to a photo RSS feed for that tag. |
| If you do not see the tag you are looking for, enter a search term or terms in the text box and click on the Search button. A results page will appear with a list of tags matching your search terms and photos. Click on any of the tags listed on the results page to get photos matching that tag. An orange "RSS 2.0" button will appear just above the photos. You can add the link from this buttons to your RSS reader or aggregator to subscribe to a photo RSS feed for that tag. |
| Fotothing also has a set of standard feeds on its Feeds page. |
| 35. Tracking photos of interest using Fotolia |
| From the Fotolia About page, "Fotolia is the first worldwide social marketplace for royalty free stock images, allowing individuals and professionals to legally buy and share stock images and illustrations." |
| To search for photos, go to the home page and enter a search term or terms in the text box at the top of the page and click on the "ok" button. A results page will appear with photos that have been tagged with your search terms. A green RSS button will appear in the lower left corner of the results page. You can add the link from this buttons to your RSS reader or aggregator to subscribe to a photo RSS feed for that tag. |
| 36. Tracking photos of interest using 23 |
| From the 23 About page, the mission of the 23 photo sharing service is" to give every individual in the world a tool to share, annotate and archive their life experiences through photos - and to allow them connect and stay in touch with their friends, relatives and contacts." |
| To search for photos, go to the home page and click on the Search link in the upper left corner of the page. Enter your search term or terms and click on the Search button. A results page will appear with a list of tags, photos, users, albums, and stories matching your queries. Clicking on a tag will bring up a results page with photos tagged with your search term or terms. At the bottom of the page, you can find text links on the lower right corner of the page for a RSS feed for photos tagged with that search term or terms. |
| 37. Tracking photos of interest using TextAmerica |
| TextAmerica provides a photo moblog service, allowing users to tag and publish their photos online. |
| To search for photos, go to the home page and click on the EP Archives link. A page of photos selected by TextAmerica editors will appear. Enter a search term or terms in the text box under the phrase "Image Tags" on the right side of the page and click on the Search button. An orange RSS button will appear just above the photos. You can add the link from this button to your RSS reader or aggregator to subscribe to a photo RSS feed for that tag. |
| 38. Tracking photos of interest using Webshots |
| Webshots offers photo printing as well as photo sharing services. To access feeds for daily photos, featured albums, and other photo collections, check out the feeds page. |
| 39. Tracking photos of interest using other photo services |
| There are a number of photo services that allow sharing of photos, such as Shutterfly, Picasa, and Snapfish. None of these services offer RSS feeds for searches at this time. |
| 40. Tracking photos of interest using other search engines |
| Other Resources |
| Cnet - Review of 40 photo sharing/printing services |
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Thursday, December 8, 2005
