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Five years ago, on May 23, 2002, heif and spike uploaded the first “live” photos on Fotolog.

from heif

from mike

It wasn’t the first time heif (aka Scott Heiferman, Fotolog Co-founder) had posted a photo on the Web—he had been doing his picture of the day on his own Web site for a couple years. But, along the way he had a key insight: posting your photos online doesn’t just have to be a publishing thing—it can be a social thing.

And that’s why we built Fotolog.

And that’s why, 5 years later, more than 8 million members have shared nearly a quarter billion photos. Fotolog isn’t just a tool for archiving and cataloging all of your photos. It’s a place where you share your photos with your friends and their friends (and their friends), and end up connecting with new people from around the world. Fotolog isn’t just about pictures… it’s about the conversations that happen when people show up every day to share a little window into their lives.

It’s been a fantastic five years: Fotolog has really come a long way.

From that first, super simple homepage to where we are now, showcasing recent and interesting photos from members in every country around the planet.

(Click image to see a full-size version.)

From the uncertainty of those early days when we were never really sure if we’d be able to keep up with the insane growth, the Fotolog technology and team have really evolved. We now have a great team of 25 people who have built (and rebuilt and rebuilt) a really solid foundation to keep Fotolog humming increasingly more quickly and increasingly more reliably. And, possibly best of all, because we’re not putting out fires every day (boy I’m glad those days are over), the team is spending more and more time on what comes next.

We’re having more fun than we’ve ever had working on new product features (and improvements to what’s already there). There’s some really neat stuff coming down the pipe: Fotohunt photo contests should (finally) be launching in the next couple of weeks. We’re working on expanded member profiles, additional page customization tools and what we think will prove to be some very juicy search tools—all ways to make it easier and more fun to connect with the people and photos that are most interesting to you.

So stay tuned. And thank you for being part of the Fotolog community—when I say Fotolog is as much about people as it is about photos, the people I’m talking about are you. We look forward to checking out your photos and getting to know you for another 5 years.

Adam Seifer
cypher
Fotolog Co-founder

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007 at 12:02 pm by cypher and is filed under Fotolog News.

64 Responses to “Fotolog Turns Five”

nata @ 2007-05-23 12:21:58 PM says:

wow, thats cool!
vamos platense! :D

amanda @ 2007-05-23 12:38:41 PM says:

that’s awesome!!
i created my fotolog on july 2003, and i think it’s VERY old… congrats to fotolog!

Art Siegel @ 2007-05-23 12:48:55 PM says:

congratulations, guys. I put my first /arto picture up on february 3, 2003, and I’ve seen all the hard work it’s taken to get fotolog where it is today. Can’t wait to see what you have in store.

Alma @ 2007-05-23 01:56:53 PM says:

I wish I would had my first upload when it was first created. Thank you for your work, and I bevelieve it is a great satisfaction to see millions of users using your site. That’s Great!..
Thank you again =)

Alma Rojas

Nelly @ 2007-05-23 02:39:28 PM says:

Congratulations!

I started in fotolog in 2004 and I remember that everything was very simple and I loved that way to be. But I understand that all has to change, but we’d like that fotolog could be simple again.. without too much advertisements and that stuff.. we want old times back! :) Just compare other sites like flickr that they’re very simples and they don’t have advertisements.

Thank you!

cris_13_uC @ 2007-05-23 03:26:07 PM says:

quiero se un mien bro de gold camera pero no se como

kurotashiO! @ 2007-05-23 03:32:37 PM says:

Es impresionante como pasa el tiempo, la evolución que ha tenido un tímido sitio web donde se podian mostrar fotografías de la vida diaria o situaciones diversas y que hoy ya es un objeto casi obligado de pertencia para cualquier persona que ingrese al mundo de internet, más allá de un correo electrónico o una pagina web, por lo mismo también otros sitios como Blogger o Flickr también han sumado gente, en parte por la evolución misma de las sociedades de cada país, de mostrarse al mundo y ser reconocidos como actores cruciales de nuestras vidas.

Felicitaciones en este nuevo aniversario, y ojalá puedan ir mejorando los servicios ofrecidos a todos los usuarios, sean gratuitos o con membresias Gold.

kurotashiO!

Angel @ 2007-05-23 03:39:45 PM says:

esta muy bien pues fotolog a dado mucho estos 5 años…

yo llevo con el mio como un año de echo no recuerdo pero nos a dado una oportunidad muy grande para compartir fotos con todo mundo gracias fotolog y que siga asi de bueno por mucho mucho tiempo

Vj Biktor @ 2007-05-23 05:10:31 PM says:

Espectacular ;)
arriba fotolog

cony @ 2007-05-23 06:33:32 PM says:

no lo entiendo pero bueno xauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Zim @ 2007-05-23 06:43:16 PM says:

Happy birthday Fotolog! :)
It’s a very nice project…
I did an image once to celebrate my two years at Fotolog (just imagine it’s some kind of… gift for the five years, now)
http://www.fotolog.com/zimmundfroid/8991927
Good luck, and keep working on this!

beebs @ 2007-05-23 07:18:58 PM says:

amazing. happy 5th fotolog!!!

Jab! @ 2007-05-23 08:14:34 PM says:

Happy Bday fotolog *-*!

rafa @ 2007-05-23 08:32:55 PM says:

que chido!!!

5 años se oyen facil….pero no lo es

Frank Mash @ 2007-05-23 09:01:27 PM says:

Happy Birthday Fotolog!

Frank

federix @ 2007-05-23 09:02:35 PM says:

Jaja estaba mejor cuando solo se permitian 500 fotologs nuevos por dia para cada pais… era mas exclusivo.

Jajaja it was better when only were 500 fotologs per day per every country, that was more exclusive.

Gracias, felicidades por los cinco años.

Thank You, congratulats for the five years.

dulce @ 2007-05-23 09:04:44 PM says:

dulce es lo maximo

klaudia @ 2007-05-23 10:05:52 PM says:

a no ps ke shido

bushidocode @ 2007-05-23 10:29:18 PM says:

hahahaha viejos tiempos XD

Dhanucha @ 2007-05-23 10:55:27 PM says:

:D!!!!!!!!!!!

Feliz cumpleañosssss a tiiiii (8)!!!!!!!!

Besoo

nochita_azul @ 2007-05-23 11:45:13 PM says:

I (L) FLOG

have it since 2004… never loved it more!

… don’t ever take it away from me!!

… i DO hate though, how I many times have trouble signing in…
oh well, not all is good!

cheeeers!

pitquim @ 2007-05-24 01:34:18 AM says:

Thanks to Fotolog because I’ve enjoying very much of Photography…
Happy happy anniversary!
In Spanish:
“cumpleaños feliz, cumpleaños feliz,
te deseamos todos,
cumpleaños feliz”

jtact @ 2007-05-24 03:14:12 AM says:

You rock, this site rocks; I would never leave my Fotolog love for the cold barren tags of Flickr.

alexmontevideo @ 2007-05-24 09:32:45 AM says:

Happy Birthday!!! Congrats to you and all your team for making a difference in this world.

alexandra @ 2007-05-24 09:52:25 AM says:

i didn’t find any other post about this, so i decided to comment here.
i really didn’t like the new thumbnail thing (showing part of the picture) because it’s boring to see just part of it. you think the picture is nice (it’s just an example), then when you open the respective fotolog, you think: “oh, that’s it..”

this is a kind of “lie” to the viewer ’cause the thumbnail doesn’t show the whole picture, so you have to CLICK and OPEN and SEE to know what it is like.

please, i hope you can make this new thing be temporary and return to the good old style as soon as possible.

i appreciate the attention.
thank you!

iicantbeperfect @ 2007-05-24 09:56:22 AM says:

happy birthday :D

Richard Moross @ 2007-05-24 09:59:42 AM says:

Happy Birthday Guys!

Rafaella @ 2007-05-24 10:19:01 AM says:

happy birthday!
guys… i don’t like the new style!
change it back please… it was
so much better before!

thanks for your time. ;*

Alvago @ 2007-05-24 11:19:02 AM says:

Felicitaciones por estos 5 años de un sitio web que al principio no me gustaba, pero que terminó siendo una adicción…

» Alvago »»» http://www.alvago.com.ar/fotolog

aLphio. @ 2007-05-24 12:17:10 PM says:

happy birthday!!!!!!! =)

I Love fotolog! :)

Alina @ 2007-05-24 12:41:10 PM says:

Gracias!! Y muchas Felicitaciones!!

Congratulations!!

Gracias por su espacio, que nos brindan para poder expresarnos visualmente. Larga vida a Fotolog.

“Una imagen dice màs que mil palabras”

Atte. Una adicta al Fotolog ^^

Salu2!!

respeck @ 2007-05-24 02:05:00 PM says:

Hola

Lady SlipknoT @ 2007-05-24 03:26:29 PM says:

Congratulations!!!!
and Happy Birthday!!!!

nahir @ 2007-05-24 06:12:25 PM says:

es una cagada la letra grande de los fotologs
quiero la letra chicaaa
wuaaaaaa

Nair @ 2007-05-24 08:00:22 PM says:

firmeza total mais um dia se passandu ai moro muita coletividade na qbrada, dinheru no bolsu sem miseria e é nois
vamo brinda o dia d hoj q o amanha só pertence a deus a vida é loka
a nair sem palavras, é uma menina bonita, legal, simpatica e brincalhona kk
Nunca mude esse jeitu d ser
Ame a quem deve ser amado
Infelicida nao é legal
Respeitu humildade é o nosso valor

Sandra @ 2007-05-24 08:40:04 PM says:

Nice!

keyta_1991@yahoo.es @ 2007-05-24 08:41:21 PM says:

para q vivir si hay q morir,
para q soñar si hay q despertar,
para q amar si hay q odiar,
para q demonios olvidarme de ti
si ya eres parte de mi……..

TE KIERO

PS @ 2007-05-24 09:58:43 PM says:

5 YEARS?! HOLY JESUS!

I can’t do something besides congratulate you. I’m not able to imagine how have you rebuilt so many times Fotolog core to make it faster and more flexible.

Feliz cumpleaños!

Francesca @ 2007-05-25 01:59:27 AM says:

thank heaps for your patient. thank you for this great idea.
I am ready for what is next! happy birthday to you and to me ( my fist year in fotolog). :D

meneses camba @ 2007-05-25 06:35:39 AM says:

the new sh*t is coming!!!!!!!!

teedeestrellaas @ 2007-05-25 10:55:40 AM says:

Well , Happy birthday fotolog (8) , hehe .. well I love this site ! Is awesomee !! (L) hehe . I hope this site , never ends :) Congratulations!

Bueno , feliz cumpleaños fotolog (8) , jeje .. amo este sitio ! Es asombroso !! (L) jeje . Espero que nunca termine :) Felicitaciones!

VasH @ 2007-05-25 05:42:02 PM says:

Happy birthday…..
nice, nice….

congratulations!!!

(^.^)
saludos y demases

_____________________________________________________VasH

jkh_22 @ 2007-05-27 01:15:33 AM says:

bon cinq! it’s been our honor and pleasure
to be along for the ride…heif n’ cyph.

ivan @ 2007-05-27 02:06:29 PM says:

eres la mas wapa del mundo eres una tia buena no te vallas a la playa que la gente se queda boquiabierta de lo wapa que eres. la mas wapa del universo.

onlyxblackxwhite @ 2007-05-28 03:04:19 PM says:

Es exelente como esto crece Señor Adam Seifer muchas gracias por hacer de Fotolog un lugar en el que todos puedan navegar sanamente.

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MSN I NIIPET
MSN

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