Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Apologizes for Accidental Pro Photographer Diss
If we're being honest, we can all admit to at one time or another suffering from foot-in-mouth disease. Unintentionally saying the wrong thing can happen whether you have the gift of gab or not, and those in the public eye are especially prone to such incidents when every word is scrutinized. Hence Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is asking for forgiveness from professional photographers after she made a statement that appeared to disparage their profession.
Yahoo held a press event in New York City to celebrate the opening of a new office and to unveil a revamped Flickr service that now offers users 1TB of storage space for free. With so much space up for grabs, Yahoo no longer offers a Flickr Pro subscription, and comments related to that decision are what landed Mayer in hot water with photographers.
"There's no such thing as Flickr Pro, because today, with cameras as pervasive as they are, there is no such thing really as professional photographers, when there's everything is professional photographers," Mayer said. "Certainly there are varying levels of skills, but we didn't want to have a Flickr Pro anymore, we wanted everyone to have professional quality photos, space, and sharing."
Image Source: DeusXFlorida
Mayer's comment was hit with a wave of negative reactions across the web, some posting to her own Flickr account and others taking to Twitter asking for clarification. Did she really mean what she said?
"It was a misstatement on my part and out of context. Was about the terabyte on Flickr and how many photos everyone takes," Mayer explained in a Twitter post. She followed it up with another tweet saying, "I worded my answer terribly. I really apologize for what it sounded like outside of the context and notion of Flickr Pro."
It's not a stretch to believe she's being sincere, as it wouldn't make sense for Mayer to alienate professional photographers immediately after relaunching a photo sharing site. Sure, criticize her for signing off on Yahoo's $1.1 billion acquisition of Tumblr, but let's give her a pass for fumbling her words.
Yahoo held a press event in New York City to celebrate the opening of a new office and to unveil a revamped Flickr service that now offers users 1TB of storage space for free. With so much space up for grabs, Yahoo no longer offers a Flickr Pro subscription, and comments related to that decision are what landed Mayer in hot water with photographers.
"There's no such thing as Flickr Pro, because today, with cameras as pervasive as they are, there is no such thing really as professional photographers, when there's everything is professional photographers," Mayer said. "Certainly there are varying levels of skills, but we didn't want to have a Flickr Pro anymore, we wanted everyone to have professional quality photos, space, and sharing."
Image Source: DeusXFlorida
Mayer's comment was hit with a wave of negative reactions across the web, some posting to her own Flickr account and others taking to Twitter asking for clarification. Did she really mean what she said?
"It was a misstatement on my part and out of context. Was about the terabyte on Flickr and how many photos everyone takes," Mayer explained in a Twitter post. She followed it up with another tweet saying, "I worded my answer terribly. I really apologize for what it sounded like outside of the context and notion of Flickr Pro."
It's not a stretch to believe she's being sincere, as it wouldn't make sense for Mayer to alienate professional photographers immediately after relaunching a photo sharing site. Sure, criticize her for signing off on Yahoo's $1.1 billion acquisition of Tumblr, but let's give her a pass for fumbling her words.
