Robert Neer recently commented on my post about the Google Mashup of the California Wildfires, pointing out a related story on NPR. Which lead me to the KPBS website, creators of the San Diego focused Google Mashup of the California Wildfires. I found another cool thing at the KPBS site - they sponsored a public Flickr group for posting photos of the Wildfires.

I wanted to point this out for a couple reasons. First, it’s a great set of photos. Second, I love seeing organizations utilize social networking sites in meaningful ways. Third, I’ve been trying to convince the Fairfield Weekly, Fairfield Chamber of Commerce, The City of Fairfield and the Fairfield Art Walk to use Flickr as their photo pool for awhile now. None have done so, although the Art Walk has created a group on Flickr.

Why am I so pushy about Flickr? Well it’s an incredible application for aggregating and sharing photos (and therefore readers) with ZERO cost. It’s the ultimate and standard for social networking applications. And I don’t see nearly enough organizations realizing the marketing potential of using a site like Flickr. But wait there’s more! Flickr is also extremely easy to incorporate into an existing site.

Anyway, here’s the California Wildfire Flickr slideshow created by the readers of KPBS.org: