Official Zooomr Blog

Friends, it’s been an amazing year. One that, together, has taken us to bigger and bolder heights.

In this year we launched an entirely new platform, moved server farms, launched our global blogging platform and have also seen the success of Zipline and how it has raised community awareness — All thanks to your support.

Up until now, Zooomr was completely manufactured, coded, maintenanced and administrated by myself. Doing this by myself has been a truly humbling and insightful experience — but what I will remember the most is how touching it has been for me to be able to share my life with all of you — our community.

Believe it or not, for the last two years, I have worked every living moment of my life for this Web site: For Zooomr and for its community. (And, if that is hard to believe, please look at my vimeo stream or the thousands of photos that I have uploaded on my photo stream in this year alone.)

So, in a few words: It has been an honor to have put everything, including my blood and sweat, into zooomr for this community.

And even now, I have traveled over 5,000+ miles away from America to Japan to not only find financing for Zooomr to keep its community alive, but also to open what we all know and love about Zooomr up to new markets, as well.

This is also the first holiday season that I will not be spending with my family — and oh how I miss my Mother, Father and younger brother Ryan. No doubt, they probably miss me too.

This post isn’t about me, though — it’s about all of us. It’s about Zooomr, the community and what we have all put into it to keep it going for the better of everyone included.

When I was sitting in my 5×5 foot (!) sublet room in Silicon Valley, CA first creating Zooomr, I only imagined what it could become. I wanted to create a place where everyone could share their experiences in life with the rest of the world in as many locations and languages as possible. Today, we’re still finding more ways to connect people globally and being an active part of other people’s lives is what keeps me attached to this project day in and out.

And while I have over 15,000+ hours into making Zooomr, I’m still going strong out here in Japan working hard to make Zooomr stronger, more reliable and ready for the next wave of challenges and advancements in photo sharing and communication that we can provide.

After three months of solid work here in Japan, we’ve got a new Web build ready that fixes much of the bugs and issues with Zooomr today. And, thanks to on-going Japanese investments, I can say that we’re working to make Zooomr stronger than ever by increasing man-power and also moving data from the US to Japan so that we can continue to build up Zooomr’s infrastructure and make Zooomr faster for everyone around the world. (This new build will be launched soon after the move is complete.)

As I leave this post and get back to working on Zooomr, I want to just take a moment to thank all of our users and all of the companies and individuals who have given to this project in order to make it better for everyone.

This is a time for giving and remembrance; I want everyone to know that even though I may not be in front of a warm fire with close friends and family, I am instead filled with a different, special kind of warmth — the warmth of community and togetherness.

From me to you, thank-you and happy holidays.

kristopher