Imgur: Brain Candy For the Social Web

Imgur “the simple image sharer” has become somewhat of a surprise social network. What started as a streamlined image hosting and a “gift to Reddit” has become a titan with more than one-million images uploaded per day and 100 million unique users per month.

Perhaps most surprising is that the image hosting website has became a social network. Users upvote and downvote images, they can leave comments and, as of last month, they can use an internet relay chat — or IRC — system to communicate with one another instantly.

The Imgur community even has its own language and habits, but with its fast paced image based content, it doesn’t seem to have the same pressures as other social networks.