Flickr

1. The topic discussed in class this week was the idea of Organization Online.  In other words, networking.  Flickr is a tool that allows their users to upload photos and videos online which allow them to share their interests as well as their business with others.  The users on Flickr that I came across in my experience consisted mainly of small businesses and organizations who seemed to be trying to get the word out about their business in order to promote growth.  The fact that these users are building an online profile brings to mind a similar feeling that blogs brought up.  In following with the Uncertainty Reduction theory Flickr allows users to tell a certain self-image of themselves in the online context.  This may or may not lead into face-to-face interpersonal communication but the end result is a diminished uncertainty about the user.
2. Flickr allows small businesses to be able to network in the online sphere very easily.  Even those who are not tech-savvy will be able to easily navigate and use Flickr to their advantage.  As a result of this user-friendly aspect many business are really benefiting from using this website as a way to grow their business.  Especially because in today's society people are much more likely to surf the web in search of a place to go out to eat, or get their hair cut, than they would be to open up a phone-book to locate a place.
3. I thought it was interesting how these different users best felt their profile would help their business.  Many of the pages I looked at had different but similar approaches achieve the same goal of expanding business.  Some pages had a very organized layout of photos and descriptions that really told you a lot about their business, but even so these pages did not leave much to figure out.  As a result you almost never needed to research more to make a decision whether or not this business was something that you needed.  On the other hand, I thought that the pages where not every detail about the business was expressed gave the viewer something to wonder and often sparked more interest that way.  
4. In-class when building a profile for Harry's hair salon I thought that it was easy to find pictures that would best represent this small business.  However, just because you have built an acceptable online presence does not mean that you will generate a lot of interest on Flickr.  I found myself rather stymied when trying to figure out how to generate traffic to the actual page on Flickr.
5. No longer will you have to go out to functions hosted my similar business in order to network your business.  Flickr allows you an online platform for you to do all of this leg-work from the comfort of your own home.  Networking is an integral part of business, it always has been and will only continue to grow as technology does.  By offering a service that is seen as so crucial to businesses this tool definitely improves communication and in a mature, adult, and efficient way.
6. While I myself have no need for Flickr in my life I found that by pretending to be a small business I enjoyed my usage of Flickr.  With that being said, later in life if I ever find the need to grow my own small business or if I have a friend who needs help with such I will be certain to remember Flickr.  The website is not among the garbage sites out on the internet.  Instead this site is a tool which all businesses would do well to utilize.