Image courtesy the official Flickr blog.

Twitter didn’t launch with hashtags and @ mentions, but those two simple communication features have quickly become central to how we communication on Twitter, and many other social channels. The latest platform to add the ability is the Flickr iPhone app, which added @ mentions this week. From the official Flickr blog:

Take the conversations to another level!
You can now mention your friends right from the app. Start by typing in the @ sign, and then simply select one of your Flickr contacts to mention them in a title, description or comment. We will notify your friends that you mentioned them.

Flickr enabled users to tag their contacts in photos since 2009 (known as ‘People in Photos‘), but this new @ mention feature for the iPhone app boils this down to its bare essentials and adds the ability to quickly and easily mention people in comments and descriptions.

Businesses need to be aware of Flickr iPhone app @ mentions because the feature further expands the interconnected conversations that are happening on one of the world’s most popular photo-sharing platforms. If your business is a public space where people are likely to take and share pictures, whole brand-related discussions could be taking place.

Monitoring and engaging with the conversations happening between users on Flickr is not complicated, but it takes time and effort to keep up-to-date. Setting up a Flickr account for your business is one way to get into the conversation, so that users can cite your business using a @ mention, and then you’ll receive an automatic alert, just like on Twitter.