Plaxo and Photos

Yesterday I ranted about getting an email from Plaxo about a survey they were pushing. They are polling their users as to their likes, dislikes, interests, thoughts, etc. on online photo sharing in general and possible photo sharing integration into the Plaxo service.

I clicked the link in the email and got nada, zippo, zero, nothing. The link didn't work. A short time after that, via the power of socialnet, I received a twitter message from @plaxo who informed me that the reason the link didn't work was because of the service they were using. That's cool. Stuff happens.

In my post yesterday, I said I wasn't going to take the survey. They lost me. Once the link went no where, I bailed. Then I got the twitter message and thought to myself:

"Well, if they took the time to read my post, contacted me about the problem, they deserve to get my input, especially as a photo enthusiast."

So I did, I took the survey. It was painless. So to @plaxo, if you're reading, here is a readers digest version of my answers to your questions:

Integration. Don't try and be yet another place where I have to put my pictures. Take a page out of Facebook and put the pictures in the user stream. You will never replace sites like Flickr for example. The only way that will happen is if you offer some sort of tool(s) that other sites don't. Maybe partner with Adobe and get access to some of the online Photoshop services so folks can tweak pictures in Plaxo.

My point? The wheel has already been invented. Just get in the car and join the carpool. You guys are great at contact management and connecting those that want to network with like-minded professionals. Keep improving that aspect of your service. Leave the photo stuff to those that have already perfected it.