500px.com

There seems to be quite a buzz in our forums about the site 500px.com. It is indeed an extremely well-done site with the most up-to-date design. There have been more than a few comparisons of NPN to it, with the opinion that the NPN site is outdated and not nearly as nice. I would have to agree.

However, a major consideration in this comparison is being missed; if you go to the 500px site, scroll to the bottom and click the "Investors" link and then the "Round A" link in the "Investors Opportunities" section, you will discover this - the owners of the site have received $525,000.00 in venture capital to develop it!

Whew! I suppose if we had more than half-a-mil to work with, the NPN site would be mighty slick too. And do you think that sooner or later, those VCs will want to see some return on their investment?

I would venture a guess that they will, and will do what ever it takes to make it happen.

"I would venture a guess that they will, and will do what ever it takes to make it happen. "

Nah, Jim. The tooth fairy works for free!

BTW- Is a magic voting system anything like the voting machines in recent presidential elections? Or does voting hint they'll generate their revenue from campaign ads?

It's a pretty slick site, but something in a similar vein for NPN would be difficult to implement, and would be expensive. Honestly, from the viewpoint of forums in general, NPN is still one of the best I've seen.

--P

As far as I'm concerned, Jim, it doesn't hold a candle to NPN. Yes, it's quite flash and has many of the modern gimmicks ( that ` like - dislike ' feature I've never thought particularly helpful ) but there seems to me nothing about it that compares with the richness of content we get in the galleries, with their critiques, and in the variety of forums and instructional pages. Maybe I'm a bit fuddy-duddy but I do appreciate the serious yet friendly tone of NPN, and long may it remain.

The voting makes my skin crawl. Talk about a pathway straight to strife.

I find 500px a cross between deviantart, Redbubble, photo.net, Flickr, and Facebook with their version of "The Wall". It is certainly not a critique forum by any means and I think NPN is at the top in that regards. I do see many NPN'ers have accounts over there as do I (including DA, RB, photo.net, and Flicker). Those sites are more about exposure to the general masses at least for me. DA and RB are not photographer centric and people finding my work on DA and RB have lead to print and one time use (for text books and article) sales. I think all these sites are useful marketing tools but the high quality critiques of NPN make it special.

When I look at a site I am more concerned about the content than how slick the programming is. I remember when image mapping came out and there was a fad for hiding links and menus in the map. You had to hover the cursor around to find them. Thankfully that fad has passed (mostly) and most sites have clear and obvious menus. "Old School" but it is more user friendly. When the first thing that impresses you about a site is the programming it is too slick IMO. I have an account there but haven't put up anything so far and frankly I don't even check it out often.

For me there is no comparison between NPN and 500px. They have a slick interface and things might look "better" on their interface but there is no community there like there is here and even though I am mostly a lurker I am around, there is nothing like NPN anywhere.

I don't see the connection between this site and 500px at all. As Eva pointed out, it seemed more like Flickr when I first looked at it... you can vote on photos and have contests in Flickr as well, which doesn't amount to a whole lot more than boosting one's ego. I joined Flickr in order to expand my marketing efforts, and it's generally failed in that regard. Beyond the general subject matter, I don't see the correlation to NPN.

Max

Two different animals, here. I enjoy the community and interaction on this site. The CC you receive on images is straight forward, usually polite, and from sources you can rely on.
Joe Rogers

Looked a lot like Flickr to me
Bunch of soft comments yuk!

I dont have an account on 500px....I am going to comment as a neutral observer.

While the content of 500px cannot be directly compared with NPN, it design is fantastic. If you can combine the NPN content with design upgrade you would have a far stronger site. It is true that NPN design seem outdated when compared 500px.

OK....NPN Lovers - Flame away.

As far as VC is concerned...any plans for getting VC for NPN?

-Jay

It does seem to me though that a lot of the big name regulars have moved on to somewhere else and visit NPN less frequently. Just a general observation. May not be because of 500px but just a general trend I have noticed. Has anyone else noticed this trend?

Perhaps the "Big Name" regulars have discovered G+ and other social media is able to boost their profile more than NPN?
and so are spending more time on those?

Dunno but 500Px is just a flashier form of Flickr! NPN has its own clique problems but compared to 500px its perfect.

I visit and post in a number of places: NPN, fredmiranda, google + and I am trying out whytake.net (just released).

Of all of those places, this is the only one that I get any actual critique worth hearing. Since I am an amateur not making money from this, that is all I really care about. Sure, the ego boost is nice when someone likes my photos. But, I am not going to be selling them, so it really doesn't matter in the long run. I want to use these communities to improve my photography. NPN is the only place that actually helps me get better.

On the flipside, I have actually met some local Portland photographers from fredmiranda and have started going out shooting with them, which has been a ton of fun.