Prior to changing our service over to a pay for play model we conducted a user survey of our free service and the results were very positive. They indicate that our users were generally excited, optimistic and satisfied with our service.  Using these data points we confidently started charging for our service. Not that we had a choice because the operational cost of the free service were killing us. The thing is once we made the switch to a pay model our users’ perception of quality made a 180 degree turn. Based on the declining daily registration numbers and negative feedback we got from our user base it was obvious that quality is a function of perception. When users didn’t have to pay they really liked our quality when we asked them to shell out for it they had a very different opinion. The good news is that it’s clear that if we improve the quality of our service users will pay.

Below are some of the highlights of that user survey:

This has always been in the plans, and has been requested many times. Our customer API will allow developers to integrate the TagCow.com image and photo tagging service into their applications. We’ll also introduce reseller rates that will allow developers to purchase our service at a discounted rate. If you are interested in participating in the TagCow.com API Beta program please email mnichols@tagcow.com.

You didn’t think we’d be left out of the excitement around the next gen iPhone platform did you? Our application will allow users to associate their iPhone with their tagcow account allowing their iPhone photo gallery to be automatically tagged. The application will also allow users to search for photos using their tag cloud to quickly find and share photos. This is currently planned for release in August.