Pikeo is a photosharing application. Users upload photos from all over the world, share them with friends and family, add comments to them, and indicate where they were taken on a world map.

Pikeo is a product of Orange, which is a division of France Telecom. An approximate average of 1,200 unique visitors per month is noted on the site. The site has apparently been active since 2006, but is still supposedly in beta. Pikeo was shut down in April 2011.

Pikeo offers English, French, and Spanish on the site. Maps are integrated to pinpoint the locations of the images and tags can be used to label them. Searches may be based on Who, What, and Where tags.

There is a useful FAQ section to help users with the basic site tools. The bad news is that it is very necessary. During review, the map function was not intuitive and after several tries, the FAQ section was located by a small link at the bottom of the page. More prominent and easy to locate help would benefit this site.

The interface is very busy and confusing. While there are many functions available, it is difficult to determine how to use each one or if a user is taking advantage of all of the functions.

Photos may be imported via computer or mobile phone (data plan charges apply). Members may browse and search photos from other members based on tags. Members can also connect and create groups for sharing their favorite image subjects.

A fee-based printing service is only offered for members located in Portugal, Spain, Poland, France, and the UK. The blog has not been updated since May 2010. The Facebook page appears to have been deleted and Twitter updates are over 240 days old.

A username, password, and email address are required. Users may provide full name and mailing address if desired. Users must certify that they are age 12 or over.

Pikeo is completely free to use. Membership includes 1GB of online storage space.

People interesting in connecting with a global community to share images may enjoy Pikeo. With the apparently abandoned social media integration and blog, users may want to consider whether this is the photo-sharing site for them.

• Free to use
• Not intuitive
• Integrated map
• Photo tagging available
• Limited fee-based printing
• Beta testing ongoing

Pikeo video