This NYT article regarding Yahoo cutting 1000 jobs is disturbing enough. However, if you delve deeper into the article, you’ll read, “the company has said it would de-emphasize or shut down a number of other services, including photos, podcasts and a largely unsuccessful social network.”

Now, I’d like to think Flickr is deemed successful and profitable. If Yahoo (the parent to Flickr) is not performing well, assuming they see Flickr as a huge customer base with massive potential, will they try to squeeze more profit from Flickr? How would these changes impact the experience for the millions of users – especially those of use that pay $25 a year to hang out on a daily basis?

There was much backlash when Flickr ‘sold’ out to Yahoo, how would the users handle more radical changes?

However, as popular as Flickr is, could Yahoo see it as a low return on investment? Are the “pro” accounts enough to help fund the cost of running the service? Is advertising on non-pro members sufficient?

Surely many are concerned about this; Flickr has proven to be the longest standing online community that I’ve ever belonged to, as imperfect as it is, and its success or demise will affect millions of photography loving individuals like myself.