I disappeared offline last week to head off to Glacier National Park (yes, I may have developed a tic from being unwired five days straight). Upon my return, it occurred to me that Flickr played a huge role in planning and researching my trip. With its huge user base, you can pretty much dig up photos on any location (precisely the reason I decided to stop by this beach in Sandpoint, ID on my way to Glacier). 

I’ve always had a great appreciation for the site, its simple functionality and clean interface. It’s an invaluable resource for any traveler or photography buff. The site has now stepped up and incorporated video into its services. In April of this year, TechCrunch announced Flickr’s launch of Flickr Video. One might be quick to assume that Flickr Video will struggle with the video behemoth YouTube dominating the bandwidth, but kudos to the Flickr team for setting up some key parameters around their video service. 

First, Flickr does require that you are a “pro member” in order to upload videos (cost is $25/year and this removes the cap on photo uploads as well) but the videos can be viewed by anyone. Second, videos are currently limited to 90 seconds and 150 MB in size. In addition, videos can be made either public or private and the overall player design and playback functionality are fantastic.

Just as Twitter has quickly pounced on the world of micro-blogging, I can see where Flickr Video has the potential to build its own space around micro-video. I anticipate that the video feature will serve as a great compliment to Flickr and be especially useful for travelers looking for a quick, interactive piece to hear a personal review or gather more insight about an event or location.

It may just be time to follow Lee’s advice and pick up a Flip Phone to add to my tools of travel documentation. I’ve always had a keen interest in shooting photos and video so it only makes sense that I’ll likely be spending even more time clicking around Flickr to discover my next travel destination. 

-Scott