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Later this evening, Digg will finally launch a section where users can submit and vote on photos. It has been one of the most requested features of users for months, and the lack of such a section created quite a bit of user angst when Digg launched a series of social networking features instead back in September.
The new “Digg Images” feature will automatically crawl a submitted web URL and allow the user to select from thumbnail images to choose the one they would like to submit. Additionally, a mosaic view will allow users to browse submitted images. Digg has partnered with Idée for image recognition to prevent duplicates of the same photo from showing up on the site.
In addition to the new Images section, Digg will be unveiling some changes to the navigation of the site. News, Videos, and Images will share a common set of sub-topics, while Offbeat news will become its own top-level category, along with a new “Lifestyle” section that includes topics like autos and travel.
While the images section was expected (and in most people's eyes long overdue), the partnership with Photobucket might be the even bigger news. Photobucket, now under the Fox Interactive Media umbrella, is one of the Web's most trafficked sites and features a very mainstream audience. Thus, the partnership could help Digg significantly in its efforts to break out of the tech news niche and move its social news platform into other categories. With recently launched competitor Mixx offering an image section and gaining some fans since launching, Digg needed to make a big move, and with Photobucket on board this announcement certainly has some meat behind it.
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