OK.  So Today Flickr rolled out their Face tagging option.  They are really excited about it and trying to make the social waves to get something to talk about.  I seem to be one of the few people who are not only not impressed, but think they got it all wrong.

First, tagging is up to me.  If I want to tag someone in a photo, sure.. it MAY be a Flickr member, but most likely they are not.  Another scenario which happens all to often, families have a Flickr account.  Not one person, but an entire group . The way photo tagging is set up, I can not tag photos of these people without Flickr wanting to spam them to join Flickr.  HEY.. they are already on Flickr, just a shared account!  Now let me tag a name!  Seriously!

I also have to question their lack of ability to license any facial recognition software to this point.  It is 2009.  I expect more.  Maybe you are worried about scale..can you have that many users?   Make sense, sure.. but make it an opt in option maybe.  Hell, sell it as a premium service.  Upsell me Flickr . Get more than the $24 a  year from me by providing more value!  I’d buy in for a good product.  I am already a pro member.  Let’s grow this service.  Add in a backup service maybe?  Allowing downloads, archives, etc.  I’d pay.  I already do!  I pay $5 a month to ensure my photos are protected. I only pay you $24 a year to show a small selection.

OK.. I am ranting here.

I do have to say I think they thought well about the permissions issue.  But at this point, it is like having a fantastic alarm and security system on a car that I am not driving? How will this help me?  eh.. not sure.  I have been waiting for a LONG time to be able to tag people in photos on Flickr.  I had really had my fingers crossed for facial recognition.  At this point, I will just ignore this feature.  It is not helping me at all.

Flickr.. you disappointed me.  You took WAY too long to add a sub-par service that really doesn’t meet the needs of your customer base at large.  It does serve somewhat of a purpose.  Maybe this is a .73 BETA version. Not sure.  Not happy.  Not using the new feature . SIGH