Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) just announced its decision to end third-party sign-in options for its popular photo-sharing service Flickr. According to the search company, users will no longer be able to access their Flickr account through Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) login starting June 30.
Flickr users need to create Yahoo ID
The Flickr team advised all Flicker users that they can access their account on the site using their Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) account info. Those who have no Yahoo account are advised to create one.
Flickr users who already have Yahoo accounts need to connect their account with their account on the photo-sharing service before the end of this month. The search company will prompt users to take two options next time their sign in to their Flicker accounts—to sign up for an account on Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) or to connect their existing Yahoo account with the photo sharing service.
Users who have several Flickr accounts are required to sign-up for additional Yahoo accounts. The Flicker Team aims to make the transition as easy as possible to users and encourages them to read the Help articles or visit the Help Forum if they have questions.
The Flickr Team said, “We appreciate your understanding during this transition. Thank you for being a part of the Flickr community!”
Improving use experience
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) announced its plan to abolish third-party login on its services in March as part of its initiative in continuing to improve user experience. Back then, the spokesperson of the search company explained, “Yahoo is continually working on improving the user experience. This new process, which now asks users to sign in with a Yahoo username, will allow us to offer the best personalized experience to everyone.”
The transition process was first implemented by Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) on Yahoo Sports Tourney Pick ‘Em service.
Users with Yahoo ID can also access other services such as sports, weather and mobile apps such as the Yahoo News Digest, which received the Apple Design Award twice.
Social login competition
Some observers in the technology industry believe that Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) is taking advantage of the popularity of Flickr to boost the user base of the company, and strengthen its competition in social login, which is dominated by Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) with Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) with 58% and 28%, market share respectively. Yahoo’s social login market share is only 13%, according to Gidya, a social login aggregator.
