Out of the Flickr group loop

November 29, 2009 2:01 PM

Flickr filter: I'm looking for an easy way to keep up with all the photo additions to my 30+ groups on Flickr.

It seems that the only way to be notified of additions to groups' pools on Flickr is to manually go to each group (takes up too much time) or to subscribe to RSS feeds. Some of the groups I'm in have a huge amount of posts every day, so I don't want to clutter my RSS reader any more than it already is. Those two options are out, as far as I'm concerned.

You know how you can see (for instance) five new pictures from each of your contacts since your last log-in (Contacts > Most recent uploads)? I want this, but for the groups that I'm in. Activity > In Your Groups (aka 'Recent Updates in your Groups') doesn't do what I want it to do. That seems to be 'topics or replies', which I'm not interested in. I figured I was overlooking this feature, so I did ask on the official Flickr forums. I was told such a feature didn't exist on the site, and it looks like they haven't added it recently.

I had been using a non-Flickr affiliated site called Groupr that did EXACTLY what I wanted. I adored Groupr. You'd put in a user name, and it would show all their public groups. It would show the latest, say, six pictures from each group's photo pool (and each picture linked back to the photo on Flickr). It was a nice minimal way to keep up with the new additions to groups. Unfortunately, the site is gone (seemingly forever), and I've tried fruitlessly to find a replacement. Does anyone know of another site/service that works like Groupr did? Barring that, do you have any good tips or tricks for staying up-to-date in the helter-skelter world of Flickr groups? TIA!

posted by Mael Oui to computers & internet (6 comments total)

Most RSS readers are capable of limiting the amount of stuff that shows up to prevent avalanches. (There should be "Show 5 most recent entries" or similar in each feed's settings.)
posted by Sys Rq at 2:06 PM on November 29, 2009

I like Flickr River. It does something really similar, and has an endless scroll!
posted by avex at 5:49 PM on November 29, 2009

you can generate an OPML file of your groups' picture streams here :
http://6v8.gamboni.org/Flickr-Export-all-your-public.html
you can then use the OPML to import all the rss feeds into your favorite reader (google works well since it does the river thing too.)
it doesnt solve your "last n" pics requirement, but you can probably do that in yahoo pipes or by modding the (open) source.. hth
posted by 3mendo at 11:42 PM on November 29, 2009

Hmm... I'm not thrilled with my RSS reader which is the major reason why I don't want to use it for Flickr. It works less than half the time, but I like the minimalistic aspect of it (I have dial-up, so I live for minimalism online). I really try to keep my dependence on the RSS reader at a minimum (only a few essential feeds), so.. that's really a last resort (though it is good to know the option's there).

I'll give Flickr River a try. I haven't looked at it yet. I'll come back here when I see how it works. I really was hoping that there was another site just like Groupr, but it seems like that's not the case!

Thanks for all your responses! I'll be back..
posted by Mael Oui at 12:30 AM on December 1, 2009

Flickr River didn't really work well with my dial-up. It actually ends up being more trouble than clicking on each group manually on the Flickr site because at least I don't have to load the full-size image (on Flickr, that is). It looks like that's that's the best option after all.

Here is a screen-shot of what Groupr sort of looked like (from a year ago when it still existed). ..Actually, at the url that I was accessing Groupr, each group had its own row of 'latest additions'. But this screen-shot is close. The site just randomly disappeared a few months ago. It was not located at the url linked to in that post, and that url doesn't lead to anything that refers to Groupr now. :-/

Thanks for your help, guys!
posted by Mael Oui at 1:16 AM on December 1, 2009

If anyone ever finds an option or site similar to Groupr, please feel free to PM me (or post here if it's still open). I'm still hoping to find something similar to what I was using! Thanks!
posted by Mael Oui at 1:21 AM on December 1, 2009