Webshots versus Flickr

Frank Boosman posts about Webshots vs. Flickr in relation to CNET buying HeyPix who seem to be joining Webshots. The thing is that based on photos hosted and traffic, Webshots is huge, but as Frank points out, Flickr is being talked about a lot more and is growing at immense pace. Frank reasons that this is because Flickr has created an ecosystem and I buy into that. What you need is to build something that is open but provides added value internally, meaning that it will be used in a lot of different ways by a lot of people. In the end, it all boils down to creating something that is perceived as having value and lowering the barrier of entry by removing the barrier of exit.