Images help everyone get noticed. That’s why businesses try to use them as effectively as possible. That’s why they’ve become staples in blogs and websites.
Now, you may have noticed that I’ve been testing out this image service that’s currently still in beta called PicApp* here at JMMO. Over the last couple of weeks or so, I’ve been trying to incorporate more images in this blog, using their service. Before trying out PicApp, I’ve only ever used photos that I took myself – or free stock images from Microsoft, sxc.hu, and public domain.
So, what do I think of it so far?
The Good:
- The service is completely free. All that’s needed for anyone to use their images is to sign up at their site.
- They have a huge amount of photos. They have stuff from various events (like the Olympics) and celebrities – to conceptual photos (similar to the ones I share here primarily). They even photos from the big photo agencies like Getty Images and Jupiter.
- They have built-in embedding/sharing functions. So, when you post them on your blog or site, people can easily share those images in their own blogs, social networks, and such.
- You don’t need to worry about copyright! They take care of that for you.
- The site offers a search function to help you find the right image you need.
- There’s SOME image control: You can choose from 3 different sizes, alignment, and text wrap.
- Well I haven’t had direct contact with them, I’ve heard a lot of good things about the folks that run PicApp. I believe they’re genuinely interested in trying to keep improving the service.
The Bad or The Ugly:
- My biggest peeve at the moment is the site’s unpredictability. There were a few times when I had to click over and over to get the embed code. Sometimes, it gets really bad that I end up feeling like giving up – and just not using it at all. It doesn’t feel like worth the trouble.
- Since the images are available in flash format, it can be a bit clunky to add in a blog post, especially when using a blog editor programme.
- Although there’s some image control, it doesn’t always come out the way you need images to come out. For example, I’d much rather have that “thumb up” photo smaller. But, right now, that’s the smallest file that it’s available in.
- Even if the search function IS helpful, I find that it doesn’t always come up with relevant results. I often need to sort through a lot of photos – or use variations of my keywords to get what I need.
- I’ve found that after adding an image to a post, one or two have gone missing.
So, what do you think? Will you use PicApp? If not, why? If you’re already using it, what do you think of it?
* b5media is currently in partnership with PicApp, testing their service. However, this post is not solicited or sponsored in any way.
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Using Flash for pictures in a blog is like using a sledgehammer to drive home a tiny nail.
It’s annoying enough to scroll through a page and get lag like mad because of embedded flash movies, now we get flash images as well. Joy.
Thanks for your thoughts on this, Joy. Very interesting analogy.
At the moment, I’m finding it way too much trouble than it’s worth, so I’ve been keeping away pretty much.
I just registered and still trying to find out more about the app. I’m now rethinking whether to use it – I can’t see the point of slowing my blog down with Flash images, when I’ve never had trouble finding good images from places like Flickr. Now, if Picapp follows through with the revenue sharing idea, I might think it’s worth the downside…