Web trend alert: image bookmarking sites
Update (June 14, 2008): Victor says his project, vi.sualize.us, has been around longer than the sites I’ve mentioned here. So, again, this is another image bookmarking site worth checking out.
I smell a web trend. In the last few weeks I’ve discovered two new image bookmarking sites in addition to the insanely famous but still exclusive FFFFOUND!—We heart it and typeish.
To those who are asking “but why?”, normal bookmarking services aren’t visual in nature. Whether it’s social bookmarking like del.icio.us, or social voting like Digg, or serendipitous discovery like StumbleUpon, users decide if a website is worth visiting by looking at its name, description, tags, and popularity.
Granted, those sites are getting smarter by taking snapshots of what the sites look like, or by isolating thumbnails for if it’s an image or video being bookmarked. But it’s nice to have a dedicated tool that satiates your hunger for all things eye candy. The question is, are these image bookmarking sites effective?
Battle of the bookmarks
We heart it is like a blog in CSS gallery format, but for images. It’s got user registration, tagging, and a few other characteristics typical to a social network (which is just a fancy term for online community).
typeish is much more sparse. No permalinks, just direct links to the images themselves, which are organized only by categories.
FFFFOUND! is the most mature of the three, with keyboard shortcuts for uninterrupted browsing, related images, and an already extensive data and fan base.
Trendy or trashy?
Will this become another sleazy way of making money, like CSS galleries? Will it get little attention, like tlbox? Or will it turn into a really neat idea for a Web 2.0 product, like Twitter?
We can never run out of places to find inspiration, so I say, bring it on. Like the information design and patterns space, I will keep my eye on this category and keep on wishing for smart new features for it.
Related reading:
well the topic is REALLY interesting …. fortunately/unfortunately with my upcoming – 15 days – marriage coming by I do not have the time to study the topic more … so I’ll leave here a THANKS and keep track of it !
ps = have you tried (for fun only) DELISH ? http://pinepointsoftware.com/delish/site/
By kOoLiNuS on June 11, 2008 2:32 pm
I really like FFFFOUND since the beginning. And Typeish looks kinda cool .
btw there’s another one I found ; http://4u.straightline.jp/ (maybe nsfw) :D
By flisterz on June 11, 2008 2:48 pm
HERE IS ANOTHER FOR THE LIST http://vi.sualize.us/
By ANTHONY BRUNO on June 11, 2008 2:51 pm
If people like these services and they draw interest I don’t see why it would be a sleazy way of making money. Personally, I don’t use any of these, but I have recently thought about starting an account somewhere.
By Steven Snell on June 11, 2008 10:20 pm
[...] blog Wisdump μυρίζει ένα web trend. Τα image bookmarking sites. In the last few weeks I’ve [...]
By Nassos K. | Crazymonkey » Web trend alert: image bookmarking sites on June 12, 2008 6:57 pm
Just letting you know – when I tried to check out Typeish, it said the domain expired on July 25th. Really too bad.
By Cyn on August 5, 2008 12:00 pm
HERE IS ANOTHER FOR THE LIST: http://picfor.me/
By Malevi4 on August 14, 2008 2:57 pm
http://imgfave.com is another image bookmarking
By lgr on August 26, 2008 2:08 pm
For really interesting images discovery tailored to your taste, there’s Photoree http://www.photoree.com
By Bubu on September 13, 2008 4:49 am
here is another me too site: http://centerology.com …
By Jon on September 25, 2008 5:30 pm