Google shutting down Picnik

http://blog.picnik.com/2012/01/official-announcement-picnik-is-closing/

by there • 15 years ago

59 21 15 years ago

blog.picnik.com

there• 15 years ago

i can't help but think that this was done by google to hurt flickr/yahoo, since flickr integrated picnik as their web-based photo editing tool. i used it quite a bit to do easy changes like cropping photos.

maybe yahoo should have bought them before google did.

SyneRyder• 15 years ago

Don't forget Facebook. A lot of users would've used Picnik to edit and share their photos on Facebook. If it's all about Google+, then hurting FB is a bonus.

tannerc• 15 years ago

Sad day. Picnik wasn't the best photo editing tool, but it was certainly handy to use away from home when you need to edit something quickly and painlessly.

binarycrusader• 15 years ago

Key thing to note is that Picnik functionality is moving to Google+.

itsbf• 15 years ago

The problem with Google+ is any large photo gets re-sized to 2048 x 2048. I did research and tested it. I haven't tried them, but some alternatives being mentioned are fotoflexer.com and advanced.aviary.com.

Drbble• 15 years ago

Part of the overall strategy to turn Picasa (and the rest of Google) into a Facebook clone by killing all the features except sharing, and only making sharing work with Google accountholders.

HardyLeung2• 15 years ago

Wow! Amazing! So what's the real alternative to online image editing for the mass? Of course there are Pixlr, Sumopaint, Aviary, Photoshop Express, but each targets a somewhat different audience than Picnik. I know the fact that Picnik is Flash-based is inconsistent with Google's strategy, and that with Flash going nowhere, Picnik is unlikely to help Google anywhere. But still... there are tons of moms and pops who use Picnik.

Question: Is there room for a new Picnik?

Edit: hmm, the Google+ version of Picnik (scaled down) is still Flash-based. So this is most likely part of the "Drive Traffic to Google+ At All Cost!" strategy.

tlianza• 15 years ago

Analytics still uses flash, as well as most of their charting tools. I believe the attachment uploader in gmail... they've also baked flash into chrome ( http://blog.chromium.org/2010/03/bringing-improved-support-f... ). Unlike iOS and Windows8 Metro apps, Android supports flash.

If anti-flash is the strategy for them, I'd question the execution.

wisty• 15 years ago

I'm not sure, but there's a Chinese thing called "mei-tu-xiu-xiu" (~ beautiful picture refiner?).

toddmorey• 15 years ago

Wow, if you look at the blog, it's immediately obvious that Picnik was really loved by a devoted fan base. I'm not endorsing the Picnik shutdown decision (I think it sucks), but you have to ask yourself, "If my service closed today, would there be this level of outcry?" If so, you're doing something really special.

Aviary recently pivoted to become an embedded photo editing service for web + phone apps. I wonder if this is an opportunity for them.

primigenus• 15 years ago

Not only do they have a devoted fan base, but nearly all of the comments are by women. There's got to be some interesting data there in how they ended up attracting that audience.

timmaah• 15 years ago

My wife uses it. She uses it because there is a button for it in picasa. Mainly to tweak photos for her blog and add text into them.

RandallBrown• 15 years ago

Girls freaking LOVE picnik. I can't tell you how many times I've seen albums of crappy filters with text that says crap like "Live...Love..Laugh" in sparkly letters that came from picnik.

If you can make a service easy enough that a typical college aged girl can get into it, you're doing something right.

lukevdp• 15 years ago

Oh man that's annoying. I loved Picnik, and recommended it to all my clients as great way for resizing photos.

Does anyone know an alternative?

HardyLeung2• 15 years ago

For this particular simple task, I recommend Pixlr. It was no where as polished as Picnik, but it is fast to load.

JohnTitus• 15 years ago

Too bad. It was very helpful for editing pics in Flickr.

lachlanj• 15 years ago

Looks like Google is becoming the new Yahoo. The place where great startups go to die.....

bane• 15 years ago

It would be fabulous if I had this problem.

stilist• 15 years ago

A week ago Flickr announced that they’d be moving away from Picnik: http://blog.flickr.net/en/2012/01/13/start-the-new-year-fres...

jordanlev• 15 years ago

Bummer -- this was a great service. Seems like Google has been shutting down a lot of things recently. There was a passage in the Steve Jobs biography where he was telling Larry Page that google should focus on fewer products and not spread themselves so thin -- seems like since Larry took over from Eric Schmidt, that's what he's been doing (slowly but surely).

OoTheNigerian• 15 years ago

Of all Google's shutdowns, this was the only one that make me scream out loud. I am gutted.

Picnik was a minimum viable photoshop. The resizing options were so useful and it was really simple.

This is just sad.

I am speaking as a selfish user though.

Are there other good options out there?

Google shutting down Picnik

Related Stories