Plugin Proposal: Integrating Flickr Photo Search

We know how adding great images can make a positive impact on every type of blog post. Images – especially the perfect one – add context, break up blocks of text, and supplement the main point or occasionally add humor.

Seeing the impact of images is the easy part – but what do you do when you want to find that perfect image for your latest blog post or article? Search Google Images, and then wade through the results hoping to find the perfect one, while ignoring the fact that you might be using other people’s work without permission?

Instead of that lower-quality and higher-risk process, I’m a big fan of using Flickr’s advanced search, where you can still search by keyword, with one important difference: When you check the “Creative Commons” box, you know you’re viewing photos you have permission to use.

In most cases, there’s no worrying about selection, either – Flickr has over 252 million photos marked with Creative Commons licenses.

I’ve found Flickr Creative Commons photos to be a great resource, but the process still isn’t perfect. Using Flickr’s advanced search, you still need to open a tab, do a search, click through to the image you want, grab the large size, save it, and then upload it to your site and place it on your article.

That’s not bad, but it could be made better as a plugin with some deep integration into the amazing new media experience in WordPress.

Here’s my proposal for a plugin that gives you simple, integrated access to millions of legal images for your content. The plugin I’m describing doesn’t exist yet; I created the mock-ups below to illustrate how it might work.

1. Click Add Media:
2. Click the “Insert from Flickr” link in the menu:
3. Search for a term, view results, and select the image you want:
4. Boom! The image now appears in your post and is saved to your your media library, and even includes proper credit (using the caption field):

That’s it! An easy, legal way to get quick access to millions of images to make your articles look nicer and be more readable.

What do you think? Is this a doable plugin? Are there existing plugins out there that do this job better? I’d love to hear your take in the comments!