One of the internet’s most popular repositories of GIFs and silly memes, Imgur has rolled out some distinctly social features for its updated mobile app.

Instant chat and more

Despite its huge online user base, Imgur has long lacked functionality that makes it easy to follow, share and chat with others.

Previous efforts to incorporate private messaging and the ability to follow the users’ latest content were restricted to the desktop site and decidedly clunky.

The latest update to Imgur’s mobile app, however, has added instant messaging and dynamic following features to the image-based network.

Room to improve

Although likely to be welcomed by many, Imgur’s new mobile features aren’t without their limitations or concerns.

For example, while the ability to chat instantly with other users is a handy in-app addition the lack of safeguards (any user can message any other user without prior connection) seems ripe for trouble.

The implementation of following, too, is somewhat underwhelming compared to other social networks. At present, users will only receive notifications when content posted by someone they follow has received enough upvotes to reach the ‘Most Viral’ page.

Are they enough?

It would seem that Imgur has woken up to the massive social potential of their service, and may be attempting to follow Instagram and Snapchat towards amassing a new set of users.

While it must be said that the rollout of these new features are likely just the first steps and not the end game, based on these new features alone, it’s unclear whether Imgur has the social chops to gain solid traction in an already uber-competitive field.

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