Flickr users will now be treated to bigger images and a “more immersive, more expressive” user experience from the photo platform, unveiled by Yahoo! chief executive officer (CEO) Marissa Mayer.
Mayer, who described Flickr as a “once-shining” acquisition that “didn’t fare so well”, unveiled the new look at a press conference in New York City on Monday.
According to the CEO, Flickr now allows each user to take 537,731 photos, as well as 2,000 in every country.
“You can take all the pictures ever taken and upload them to Flickr… and there would still be room,” Mayer said.
Yahoo!’s senior vice president Adam Cahan added that users can now upload photos in full resolution and adapt them on various platforms such as tablets, smartphones and social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
Also included in the new Flickr are larger photos set against sleek backgrounds, in place of the earlier ones with words and user messages.
Advertising for the photo platform is also set to have new formats, which are still under development.
Yahoo! has in the past been accused of “killing” Flickr, a service it bought eight years ago, because it failed grow in the face of competition from Facebook and Instagram.
The unveiling of the new Flickr came only a few hours after the acquisition of Tumblr which the CEO said is also in line with her plans to turn Yahoo! into an internet services company that focuses on improving user experience.
“We promise not to screw it up,” she wrote her own Tumblr site following the acquisition. “Tumblr is incredibly special and has a great thing going.”
