Introducing The New Imgur (Is It Like The Old Digg For Images?)

Imgur, the popular photo editing/sharing/analytics site, is about to launch their redesign, which means the well-sought after gallery is about to change. Prior to the new imgur, the gallery was calculated on an image’s virality score, which was based on its popularity across the web. As of October 29, this system is going to change. Instead, users will now be able to upload directly to the gallery and create full albums. Imgur also created a new sorting and reputation system for its users.

The new imgur’s homepage will allow you to drag and drop photos, upload and check out all the content within the gallery. The community will be able to upvote an image within the gallery, which will increase user engagement. You will be able to easily add your images to the gallery within the upload section and add a title (remember to title carefully since it is just as important as the image). Adding multiple images at once will now create an album with your username associated with it, and it will not be private. Therefore, if you want to upload more than one image at a time, you will have to wait or an album will be created.

The new imgur will allow you to sort in real-time, according to what is hot for the week, month, year, and even for all-time based on user’s upvotes, capitalizing on the imgur community’s input. A new sorting system for comments will be added as well. It will have a smarter algorithm to enhance better quality from the comment efforts and those who vote amongst the comment section or want to read the replies.

New Imgur – The Homepage

(Click To Enlarge)

“By implementing a smarter algorithm to sort comments, we hope to combat the idea that the first post will be top comment regardless of its overall quality compared to the other, later comments. Introducing the “best” ranking. Simply put, it uses lots of math to come up with a confidence score for each comment that does not factor time. When a few people have voted on a comment, you get a rough idea of its quality. A comment with 100 upvotes but 50 downvotes has a lower confidence rating than a comment with 30 upvotes and 0 downvotes, despite that it has more overall points. The algorithm will create a hypothetical situation and assume that, if everyone were given the chance to see the second comment, it would be ranked higher. We hope that this improves the quality of top comments and make your votes count more.”

No longer will “NSFW” (Not Safe For Work) images be allowed. Imgur is depending on user moderation to report such images to keep imgur at a higher quality standard. Voting up or down is encouraged, so do so wisely. Imgur is even implementing a reputation system that will include six life stages receiving a medallion for every unlocked achievement which will display on your imgur profile. In order to gain points, it will depend on your community activities, such as; commenting, submitting to the gallery and receiving votes.

New Imgur – The Redesigned Gallery

Even a mascot will be added to the site, a familiar one too since they are using the “Imguraffe” they so cleverly pranked us with on April fool’s day. It will be the face of your first medallion that will look like a wooden chip displayed on your profile. Imgur sure has big plans, and they all sound do-able. Allowing a community to vote on the popularity of an image and encouraging activity with achievements to unlock sounds like the old Digg. The difference is, imgur will be inspiring the community instead of banishing it.

This site was once known as the image uploader, which didn’t add much purpose besides how often a specific image gained popularity from posting around the web. Soon we will be able to be a part of the choosing and use our user abilities to choose which image (along with title) deserves an upvote or a go “viral”. Instead of voting on curated news (like on the old Digg), you will vote on images you find most interesting.

This redesign to the new imgur is perfect timing since visual data is popular, photos have become the ideal status update and infographics have become a faster way to learn. Sites like Pinterest and Instagram are popular for a reason. People like to “like,” but most people like to upvote or downvote even more. Does the new imgur bring back memories of the old Digg or perhaps hint at what Digg should have done to keep its devoted community?

New Imgur – Official Mascot

Via: [imgur]