Imagine a microlabor force of flash-snap-crowds, a new generation of stringers who gather at news-worthy events and joust for the best image, then instantly sell it.
(And perhaps gang up to assault the oaf who uploads a prime image to Flickr with CC-licensing?) The problem we see is the gating. Fotolia plans to QC the images, and that's a terrible idea. The big opportunity here is for news outlets to be able to buy commercially-licensed images as fast as possible. The point of the app is that it's faster for pros than uploading your photos to your existing account with a stock photo company from your camera and setting the licensing up.
For amateurs who get a once-in-a-lifetime shot, it's a chance to sell it at its most valuable.
The incentive for news outlets to use your photos disappears the minute there are equally good images on Twitter, even if those images aren't commercially modifiable. This means Fotolia would have to have moderators manning the gating 24-7, or automate it. Or give it up altogether- and that's actually the smart move.
At Re:Make last Friday I heard Sephora exec Bridget Dolan explain that Sephora wasn't the first company to have online product reviews for make-up- they were just the first to let them go up instantly, unmoderated. Dropping the gating unleashed the consumer kraken.
