Within hours of the announcement of Yahoo!'s blockbuster purchase of Tumblr for $1.1 billion, they made another bold announcement that probably made a lot more users happy. Flickr, one of the most popular web services for sharing, storing and organizing photos, just got bigger and better.

What's New

First, the entire site has received a beautiful overhaul. The new interface puts even more emphasis on great images and keeps the site controls and information in the trending flat colors and graphics. I expect that the new Yahoo design, when finally released, will be similar.

Over the weekend, Flickr released an update for their mobile app that brought complete hashtag support to the image-sharing network. This seems liks a smart move from Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, and is one within a series of updates to Flickr which have demonstrated Yahoo's commitment to strengthening their position in the picture and social-sharing circle.

Sometimes, it's good when two of your major competitors are fighting and getting lots of negative publicity. That can create an opportunity for your business in the market, and that's what's happening now between Twitter and Instagram/Facebook and these PhotoWars. Meanwhile, Yahoo's photo sharing service, Flickr, is taking advantage of the chaos and quietly working to improve their service and attract more users from Instagram.