Network Literacy: Flickr

For our 2nd assessment we have to explore an ‘online community’.

Through creating an account and learning about the website I have come to realise that being network literate is an integral part to succeeding on Flickr.

As aforementioned in some of my previous posts, being network literate means to contribute and create in equal parts. There are 3 different ways I have found you can practice network literacy on this platform;

• Favouriting pictures. Similarly to likes on Instagram & Facebook, photos can be favourited on Flickr. This is done by clicking the little ‘star’ icon on photos. I’ve noticed that I have received a few ‘favourites’ in return when I have done this on other accounts. This is a direct example of network literacy.
• Following photographers. Again, similarly to most online platforms, you have the choice to follow other users. This was a little difficult for me as I usually just follow people I know on other social media sites I use. None of my friends or family (to my knowledge) have Flickr – so all followers I have are from searching through tags. Unlike favouring pictures, gaining an audience is a lot harder to do.  I think you have to have active participation in a community for a while before you can get followers.
• Group participation. Groups are something I have otherwise been quite unfamiliar with. I don’t believe there are groups on Instagram, which is the main platform I use. There are groups on Facebook but I haven’t really got involved with them before. Group participation is a great way of contributing to the overall community aspect of the site. It really gets into the crux of what network literacy is all about.