Instagram is one of the Internet’s most beloved social apps, so much so that over the course of its existence, there have been lots of sites and services popping up online allowing users to transform their filtered snapshots into cool collectibles. We’ve actually released a couple of gift guides over the last few weeks that feature some of those Instagram-friendly services, but as the holidays approach, other companies are beginning to utilize their popularity by offering gift-worthy options worth considering – one of them being Yahoo.
Yahoo has just announced Flickr Photo Books, a service which is very similar to a site like Printstagr.am only instead of using your Instagram shots, it taps into your Flickr photo albums and transforms your pictures into the tangible pages of a beautiful book. “Our focus with Flickr Photo Books is to make it simple and intuitive to create a book that always looks great and is beautifully finished,” Tom Hughes, Flickr’s Vice President, wrote in a Tumblr post announcing the new service. Every photo found in a typical Flickr Photo Book is professionally printed onto heavy stock photo Lustre paper and the whole collection is fronted by an image-based cover with matching dust jacket. Users may choose from a variety of full-bleed layout designs to customize the look and feel of their digital-to-real-life photo albums.
While Flickr certainly has its merits and is still highly regarded as a great photo-sharing service – especially for those who prefer to upload and store full-resolution, high-quality photos – it hasn’t been able to successfully provide the features the have sent many running for Instagram, such as mobility and ease of use, even despite its mobile app. However, launching this new print service is a wise and bold move on Yahoo’s part – “prinstagramming” is definitely a booming business right now and with a lot of consumers easily falling into the habit of immortalizing their digital lives through actual, physical mementos, it shouldn’t be hard for Flickr to get in on the action.
In a way, this is even giving Flickr a step up on Instagram: While users print and memorialize Instagram images through third party services (many of which tap into all photo platforms, including Flickr, but focus on Instagram for the sake of brand recognition), Instagram has yet to launch its own printing service. There’s been conversation as to why the platform hasn’t taken this step yet. Flickr beat it to that punch at least.
Each Flickr Photo Book costs is $34.95 and has 20 pages. Additional pages are worth 50 cents, and users can collate up to 240 pages. Although this service is available for Flickr users all over the world, shipping is currently restricted to U.S. locations.
