A “Flickr” of Hope for Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO)

Google is another important factor in the success of Flickr.  Google’s social network Google+ has become a hub for photographers and has certainly demonstrated that it is not afraid to throw its weight around.  Facebook and Google appear to be the two “big boys” duking it out for dominance in the photo-sharing market, while Yahoo! is a smaller, outlying company trying to gain traction.  As long as Google continues to sharpen and improve its own photo-sharing software, Yahoo!’s Flickr has another battlefront to fight on in addition to Facebook’s Instagram.

Yahoo!’s Flickr service is a project which CEO Marissa Mayer has pledged to continue working on, even though Mayer recently announced she would slash up to 80% of Yahoo’!s current mobile apps.  One of Yahoo!’s major goals under Mayer is to improve its mobile apps, and the Feb. 21, 2013 Flickr update is just one example of that plan.

Will Yahoo be Competitive?

Yahoo!’s revamped homepage will most likely help the company bring in more revenue, and so far the “reboot” seems to be doing pretty well.  Can Yahoo! continue to produce results, or are the most recent results simply a fluke or a “honeymoon period” after the hiring of Mayer?

Yahoo! is a smaller company than Facebook and Google–frankly, Facebook and Google are two large Goliaths in comparison to the Davidic Yahoo!. The fundamental question is will Yahoo! be able to overcome the Goliaths?  Time will tell if Yahoo!’s current performance is an indicator of future growth or not.  Yahoo! needs to sustain user interest by giving users a reason to come back to the website, as well as continuing to develop its mobile apps and other branch operations.  The turnaround story at Yahoo! will continue to take time.  One should not expect a radical complete overhaul of a Fortune 500 company in the space of less than a year.  Yahoo! has certainly had a bad track record of missing major opportunities to buy Facebook, Google, and Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP), but perhaps other acquisitions Yahoo! has made will bear fruit later.

Conclusion

Facebook’s Instagram will most likely remain a powerful force in the photo-sharing industry.  But Facebook definitely needs to keep an eye out for a revitalized Yahoo! and the guns-a-blazin’ Google.  Although Yahoo! has a long road ahead of it, CEO Marissa Mayer is certainly making the right moves in order to, hopefully, be more competitive with Facebook and Google.

The article A “Flickr” of Hope for Yahoo! originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Evan Buck.

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