More Photos & Pics Please: Imgur Creates Image-Only Social Network

Until this week the image hosting site Imgur has been most widely known as the most submitted URL to the social networking site Reddit. Imgur allows folks to quickly upload and host photos and has widely been adopted as the favorite hosting choice of Redditors. Earlier this week Imgur announced they will now be doing more than just hosting images, they will be running their own socially driven enhanced “gallery” with user moderation, reputation and advanced content sorting.

Having an image be included in the new “gallery” is an option that users must choose when uploading.If this option is not selected, the image will not be included in Imgur’s social gallery. If an image is to be included in the gallery an image title is required for context.

The most noticeable change is a new beta homepage that allows users to view types of images sorted by a variety of topics. Users can choose the following types of images:

• Hottest
• Newest
• Top

Of course, what’s a social network without a reputation system? Imgur is dipping back into their April Fools past to resurrect an Imguraffe character. Users will be able to achieve different levels of a “glorious” to “prestigious” reputation based on reputation points. Each time that a user adds 10,000 reputation points they receive a new medallion. Trophies will also be rolling out soon for users that have done “something amazing.” The details are vague, but should help to increase user interaction.

The new gallery will be released to all on Monday the 29th and more can be seen on the official Imgur blog post.