A Look into Flickr Interestingness Section: how it Works and Why it is so Great

How can a photo be selected for its interesting qualities without relying on the subjectivity of one or more human photo editors? It seems this was the question posed by Flickr executives when creating the interestingness section of their website.

How can a photo be selected for its interesting qualities without relying on the subjectivity of one or more human photo editors? It seems this was the question posed by Flickr executives when creating the interestingness section of their website.

Flickr Interestingness: How it Works

While the section name is a little off-beat, the results of this Flickr segment are quite amazing.

Those amazing results are because stunning photos are being selected from among thousands by a Flickr algorithm rather than by photo editors for their, well, interestingness.

So, if one human editor is taken out of the equation when selecting top photos, then how does the Flickr section operate? It appears the photos are selected based primarily on the following criteria:

• Which discussion groups in Flickr mention or include the photo in their posts.
• How many comments are posted on a photo as well as who submits posts regarding the photo.
• Which Flickr tags are given to a photograph.
• How many times the photo is bookmarked as a favorite within Flickr.
• How many people view the photo both within Flickr and elsewhere on the Internet.

By taking the above selection factors into consideration, it appears Flickr is basing the popularity of a photo on the preference of the online crowds, based on such things as how many times a certain photo appears in popular discussion groups. This is much more objective and accurate than basing a photo's popularity on the opinion of one or only a few.

Of course, there will always be those amateur photographers who attempt to trick the interestingness selection process by flooding discussion groups with a certain photo or by commenting on it obsessively. However, Flickr appears to have found a way to rise above this trickery and beat the spammers at their own game.

They have done so by imposing penalties on those individuals who are blatantly attempting to promote undeserving photos. The result is that those stunning photos, which deserve spots in the interestingness section, receive their due recognition while other, less-deserving options remain in their respective places in the world of Flickr.

The interestingness section of Flickr is so amazing because it provides insight into how the subjectivity of a few photo editors can be replaced by the power and wisdom of the collective.

As the interestingness section continues to develop, it will be fun to see how other copycat websites take this idea and expand upon it. It will also be interesting to see how Flickr finds new ways to deal with the individuals who will forever test new ways of beating the system to have their amateur photos increase in ranks.

Flickr Interestingness: Getting Inspired

Flickr Interestingness section is by far the greatest way (for me) to get inspired. The variety of ideas, perspectives and creative approaches there is awesome. Here are a couple of awesome tools to help you track the section effectively:

1. Flickr photo RSS feed is a third-party tool that lets you subscribe to most interesting Flickr photos via RSS feed:

2. FlickRiver is a cool way to explore "most interesting" Flickr images over the past 24 hours. It displays images on the black background which results in a more powerful impact.

If you haven't yet visited this Flickr section, it's very worthwhile to do so. First, you can use this section to view amazing photographs that will provide inspiration for your own design career. Second, the interestingness section will also show you how the online world is developing and how website creators are utilizing the power of discussion boards and social media.