Premium photo-sharing site SmugMug has announced through their blog and different social media channels that a new version of their fine image hosting and sharing service is set to be unveiled this Tuesday at 10:30 am Pacific time. You can watch events unfold live here.
What to expect
What do you think new SmugMug will be bringing to the table? It’s true that the site UI was in serious need of a refresh since things have kinda looked and felt the same for almost a decade which is pretty much SmugMug’s entire existence. Visiting my galleries there would in a way take me back to the 90’s so yeah, a revamped SmugMug experience was something its users have been expecting for quite some time.
A more social experience
I hope though, that new SmugMug isn’t just about redesigned good looks but that new sharing, interacting and social functionalities are added to the mix. While it’s true that SmugMug has been mainly aimed at serious, professional photographers who look for a place where they can host their portfolios and sell their work, it is also true that in today’s web you want to provide your users with the possibility of following, sharing, favoriting and commenting what others post online. Flickr and 500px have successfully achieved this; SmugMug has not. One more thing I would love to see in the new version is groups or lists, where one could share and exchange comments with like-minded photographers. To sum it all up: a more social SmugMug. Whether SmugMug has something like this in mind will remain unknown until Tuesday’s unveiling.
New SmugMug = New Pricing?
Hopefully not. There’s been plenty of feedback from users on Google+ and other social media sites expressing their concern over a new pricing schedule where judging from some of those comments, a hike in the current prices would not be welcomed in the warmest of ways, to put it elegantly.
In my case, I plan to wait and see what the new site will be all about before I commit to renewing my current plan and download their also-new Android app. You can come back to this post on Tuesday a 10:30 am and see below what the fuss is all about. Oh and btw, in case you’re intrigued and would like to give SmugMug a try I’ve got something for you here.
Dad's Pixels 