Name Recognition

September 30, 2009 5:45 PM

One business + two Flickr accounts + lots of Google recognition = one frustrated business owner. Help me decide which Flickr account to use, or if I should delete both and start over.

Some time back I opened a Flickr account and chose a personal URL. I also opened a second Flickr account with the name of my business. I've been using the personal account with greater frequency than the business account, so the personal account is the one that shows up in Google searches if you search for the business name.

I'd prefer the Flickr account with the business URL to be the one that shows up in Google searches, but Flickr does not allow changes or transfers of custom URLs. So I'm tempted to delete the personal account and start over, but doing so means losing all the Google recognition. So I'm faced with three options:

1. Delete the personal account (con: lose the Google recognition)
2. Use the personal account as the official business account (con: personal URL)
3. Delete both accounts and start over

All advice is welcome.

posted by Ann Onymous to computers & internet (2 comments total)

Well, being as using Flicke for commercial use is against the TOU, you risk getting your business account deleted without warning if you get caught out. So maybe factor that into your decision...
posted by Brockles at 8:17 PM on September 30

Yeah, it is against Flickr's rules to use your account for commercial purposes. I think the most you are allowed to do is put a link to your business site in your profile; that's it. If you read through the Flickr Help Forums, you'll see tons of people who lost their accounts because of this. It would suck to put effort into something, only to lose it without warning.

You might want to ask this question over on the Flickr forums just to get feedback on if what you're doing might get you deleted.

Finally, I'm not sure why your personal account shows up when you search for your business name? Is the business named after you?
posted by bluefly at 4:42 AM on October 1