Imgur
Encyclopedia
imgur is an online image hosting
service founded by Alan Schaaf. It offers free image hosting to millions of users a day, serving over thirty terabytes of images daily.
The service was created as a response to the usability problems encountered in similar services, which the creator describes as "bloated, confusing and annoying".
The website became a sensation following its rise to popularity on social news
websites such as reddit
and Digg
. On January 10, 2010, Schaaf announced the creation of Imgur accounts, which allow users to create custom image galleries and manage their images. Users can also sign in with Twitter
, Google
, Facebook
, and Yahoo accounts.
, on social networking sites like reddit
and Digg
.
Image hosting service
An image hosting service allows individuals to upload images to an Internet website. The image host will then store the image onto its server, and show the individual different types of code to allow others to view that image....
service founded by Alan Schaaf. It offers free image hosting to millions of users a day, serving over thirty terabytes of images daily.
The service was created as a response to the usability problems encountered in similar services, which the creator describes as "bloated, confusing and annoying".
The website became a sensation following its rise to popularity on social news
Social news
A social news website is a type of website that features user-submitted stories that are ranked based on popularity.-Slashdot:Slashdot, started in 1997, was one of the first social news websites. It focuses mainly on science and technology related news. Users can submit stories, and the editors...
websites such as reddit
Reddit
reddit is a social news website where the registered users submit content, in the form of either a link or a text "self" post. Other users then vote the submission "up" or "down," which is used to rank the post and determine its position on the site's pages and front page.Reddit was originally...
and Digg
Digg
Digg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems...
. On January 10, 2010, Schaaf announced the creation of Imgur accounts, which allow users to create custom image galleries and manage their images. Users can also sign in with Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, and Yahoo accounts.
Popularity
The site has a statistics page where users can monitor the site's popularity, from how many images are uploaded, how many hits images get, and how much bandwidth is being used. Imgur has largely overtaken traditional hosts, such as TinypicTinyPic
TinyPic is a photo and video sharing service, owned and operated by Photobucket.com , that allows users to upload, link and share, images and videos on the Internet. The idea is similar to URL shortening in which each uploaded image is given a relatively short internet address...
, on social networking sites like reddit
Reddit
reddit is a social news website where the registered users submit content, in the form of either a link or a text "self" post. Other users then vote the submission "up" or "down," which is used to rank the post and determine its position on the site's pages and front page.Reddit was originally...
and Digg
Digg
Digg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems...
.
| # | Per Day | Per Week | Per Month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Images Uploaded | 288k | 1.986M | 8.489M |
| Image Views | 278M | 1.975B | 7.899B |
| Bandwidth Used | 39.07 TB | 269.94 TB | 1.08 PB |