Reddit and weep: Imgur makes it easier to upload images in just 2 steps

Image-hosting platform Imgur is making it easier for users to share photos by reducing the number of steps it takes to choose a photo and upload it to the wider community.

Now all that users have to do is drag or browse for the photo they wish to upload, then click “Share to Community,” once they’ve added in relevant titles and topics. This replaces a more convoluted setup that required users to manually select from a number of options, effectively cutting five steps down to two. Additionally, Imgur has introduced a new cleaner user interface and a redesign of the comments.

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Founded in 2009, Imgur counts an active user base of 150 million people each month. Indeed, in addition to offering a hosting platform for photos and GIFs, Imgur is a community-centric platform that encourages discussion and engagement around content that has been shared.

Reddit was traditionally a major driver of engagement on Imgur — as its default image-hosting service — but back in May, Reddit announced that it was launching its own image-uploading tool, meaning users would no longer have to link to images hosted elsewhere. So what part did this play in Imgur’s move to ease the upload experience on its own platform?

“It wasn’t a surprise [Reddit launching its own uploader tool] and it doesn’t change anything for Imgur,” a spokesperson told VentureBeat. “Imgur is on a mission to surface the world’s most entertaining content, and mobile is the major focus.”

Reddit has played a notable part in Imgur’s growth, though, and the company even participated in Imgur’s $40 million raise two years back — its first outside VC funding.

While Reddit has traditionally been a desktop-focused affair from a content-sharing perspective, the company has been pushing its own mobile wares of late with the launch of its first native iOS and Android apps earlier this year, each with their own image-uploading functionality. But last year, Imgur launched its first proper native Android app and ushered in image uploads to the existing iOS app, a clear sign that the company was looking to the future and wasn’t resting on its laurels as the unofficial tool of choice for the uber-popular Reddit.