Innovation In Assembly – Photobucket

Photobucket is a website that was founded in 2003 as an image hosting site. Later on they have added video hosting, slideshow creating possibilities and photo sharing. These services have been added to the application by developers who has been given Photobucket’s open API. That means that everyone can get a hold of the framework of the website.




I have chosen Photobucket as an example for the third Web 2.0 Pattern “Innovation in Assembly” because it uses many of the best practices of the pattern.
They have an open API so other people can develop tools for the application. These tools can be everything from creative tools such as slideshow creations, photo products and image editor (edit colors, contrasts and add effects to the picture) to different uploading and mobile tools. By doing this Photobucket will continue to grow as an all rounder when it comes to people needs for storage online.

The users can decide for themselves which of the different APIs they want to follow, Photobucket has made all their APIs available at this link.



Different tools

There are a lot of other mashup’s as well that have been created. You can take a look at all of them here. One example is VoixPx. They have made it possible to create a slide show with narration. The pictures they take from Photobucket, Flickr, Myspace, Bebo or Facebook by using the different APIs, and the voice you add with your phone!

One issue I can think of with Photobucket is with one of the services they provide; users can search through other peoples pictures. When I started using the service you weren't able to see anyone's pictures. It was very closed and you needed a password and username. I see now that you can search for pictures, and I looked at my privacy settings to see what was the default, and to me it looked like I share my pictures with everyone else.


My privacy default settings

I really think that the default settings should be that your pictures are private, and you can share them if you want. If someone else have anything to add, or if I have misunderstood something just shout out :)

The success story of Photobucket has a lot do to with staying in touch with the emerging trends and giving developers the opportunity to create great applications that enhances the website as the years go by. The website continues to grow because people's needs for online storage and to show off their pictures will never disappear.