Best Photo Sharing Sites

Shutterfly.com is an online photo sharing and printing service based in Redwood City, CA. Best known for its line of customizable photo books, Shutterfly was created in 1999 and went public in 2006. They company's customer base is heavily skewed toward women, who made up 80% of its users in 2013. In August of 2014, Shutterfly had 2.6 million customers with 4.2 million orders generated.

Shutterfly has several sister companies, which include Tinyprints, Wedding Paper Divas, Treat, Borrowlenses and This Life.

Facebook is a social media site that was started in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook is mainly used for social networking; however, they have recently added quite a few photo sharing and storage features which makes Facebook a popular option for photo storage since they already have over 1.44 billion active users. Facebook's mission is to "give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected." On Facebook, users can create a personal profile where they can share photos with their different social circles. The privacy on each post can be adjusted so the each user has control over who can see their posts. In each Facebook post you can add a picture, video, GIF, or comment and tag your friends.

Instagram is a social media site that was released in 2010 as an app for iPhone users. Instagram has since been purchased by Facebook and is now also compatible with Android phones. Instagram grew by 23% in 2013 and it still growing in popularity. The idea behind Instagram is to allow people to share interesting photos, in an easy format, and without the need for an expensive camera. On Instagram you can take (or upload) pictures in a square shape similar to a Polaroid, and then edit your picture with a simple filter to share with friends and family.

Photobucket is a photo sharing site that was founded in 2003 and is based in Denver, CO. Photobucket hosts more than 100 billion images from 100 million registered members.

Picasa is an image organizing website that was started in 2002. Google offers Picasa as free photography software that supports Google's photo sharing capabilities online. Essentially, Picasa allows users to organize, view, and edit their photos on their personal computer. The user also has the option to backup their photos online in Web Picasa for online storage and convenient sharing to social media sites. Picasa is available for both Windows and Mac users. Picasa will also automatically sync with iPhoto or similar competing software to ensure users a smooth transition into Picasa.

Launched in 1999, Snapfish is an online photo sharing and printing service that is owned by Hewlett-Packard. Snapfish is based out of San Francisco, CA.

Snapfish members are given free accounts with unlimited photo storage capacity. All members can share photo albums, individual photos, animated slideshows and Snapfish products.

DeviantArt was founded in 2000 and is currently one of the largest online social networks for art enthusiasts. The website was designed with the intention of sharing art to everyone; they call it, "the liberation of creative expression." DeviantArt displays over 160,000 new original works of art every day. Their displayed artwork ranges from sculpture to painting to anime. With over thirty-five million registered members, DeviantArt is a great online social network for both emerging and established artists.

SmugMug is a photo-sharing site and image-hosting service that allows users to upload both HD photos and videos to their SmugMug sites. The company was launched in 2002 and offers a toolset that facilitates the selling of digital and print media for both amateur and professional photographers. SmugMug allows photographers to control the privacy and security of each of their published photos, and has options for users to share photos and galleries through a social networking interface.

Zenfolio was started in 2005 by four photographer friends who wanted to create an online outlet for photographers. Zenfolio became their all-in-one web solution for both amateur and professional photographers. It allows photographers to organize, display and sell images.

Zenfolio is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA, and is part of the Art.com family of brands.

Flickr is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, and has been around since 2004. It was acquired by Yahoo! in 2005 and has become a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs. As of March 2013, Flickr had 87 million registered members and more than 3.5 million new images uploaded daily.