Photo sharing websites, such as Flickr are allowing people to get a glimpse of behind-the-scenes footage that in the past the public would only hear about.  We all know the phrase “I’ll believe it when I see it,” and this goes without saying.  The American people may be considered generally skeptical and are constantly questioning the validity media. With media so readily available, we find ourselves bombarded, which has us often questioning, “did that really happen?”

After the ground breaking news of Osama Bin Laden’s death, people instinctively wanted to know as much as they possible could about what had happened.  A detail obsessed country, with a need to know NOW attitude– we turned to the internet for answers; some form of physical truth to confirm the validity of what we were told.

Although images of Osama Bin Laden’s body remain unreleased–the White House’s Flickr feed remains in the headlines as it posted pictures from the situation room taken as the attacks were occurring.  These images left people with a physical representation rather than a “take our word for it” account.  A group shot with President Obama observing amidst the attacks was so effective by May 4^th the page had already received over 1.7 million views. This number is essentially far under the count of those who have actually viewed the pictures as Flickr is not copywrited and allows its pictures to be republished for free.  Since its initial post, countless reporters and bloggers picked up the photo which has undoubtedly been viewed worldwide.

These photos, as well as the attention they have gained, place Flickr in a more ‘grown up’ category than considered upon its origin.  Flickr has grown from being a tool for bloggers to a newly respected media outlet.  Just three days before the photos of Obama in the situation room were released, the British Monarchy utilized Flickr as its primary website to distribute its official wedding photos of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding.  The photos received nearly two million views and were published in news papers all over the world.  Prior to this mass viewership, Flickr caught the media’s attention when they established the Commons Project to allow people world-wide to view public photography collections.   Growing by the day, the collections include the U.S. National Archives, Smithsonian Institution, the National Galleries of Scotland and the New York Public Library.

In 2004, Flickr was launched as a site for users to share photos, with features including live chat, which eventually was eliminated.  Once Yahoo acquired the site in 2004 it evolved into the powerhouse site it is today hosting over 5 billion images.  It was in May 2009, however, the White House photographer Pete Souza began using the space to host official White House photos, which gave Flickr the grown up recognition it has today. Although Facebook is still considered the number one place for people to share photos, Flickr has emerged as a serious photography website for journalists and social media outlets as well as the general public.