Image-hosting powerhouse Imgur has just unveiled their year-end statistics, including the top 12 images of 2012. Why 12? Well, Imgur started this wrap-up in 2010 with the year’s top 10 images. Last year it was the top 11 images of 2011. I see a trend emerging…
Anyway, Imgur has a lot to be happy about. According to the site, they counted 364 billion image views in 2012. Not only that, but 300 million new images were uploaded this year alone.
That all totals out to 42 petabytes of data being transferred.
And the leading image, with just over 1.5 million pageviews, belongs to a brave Kenyan named Omari:
Here’s Imgur’s story behind the photo:
At the end of January, we met Omari, a hero who single-handedly defended the Faraja Orphanage in Kenya from attackers, and, in doing so, was hacked in the face with a machete. OP, who was in Kenya for an internship, posted this initial image with the title, “Think we could raise the $2,000 needed for the remainder of the cement/barbed wire wall to keep both him and the children safe?” Not only was his call to action answered, the goal was far surpassed. $80,000 was raised online for the orphanage. Omari’s assailants were never caught, but the donations allowed the orphanage to complete the wall as well as purchase two cows, food, medicine, bunk beds, an alarm system, guard dogs, a guard, and allowed them to look into purchasing their land. Not to mention Omari’s lovely mug has been viewed 1,553,236 times now. The power of the Internet is strong!
The next top image on Imgur belongs to Tard, or grumpy cat. You may know him from every single cat meme from the last few months. Rounding out the top three is the President, whose reddit AMA proof photo has generated over 2 million views.*
Back in October, Imgur launched a pretty significant update, with a focus on sharing. One of the goals of the update was to help Imgur break out of the reddit shell. Imgur is the top image host for the majority of reddit users, so a significant amount of its traffic comes from reddit.
“The interplay between Reddit and Imgur is interesting as well, so no doubt Imgur giving its community the ability to bypass Reddit and share images directly on Imgur will be perceived as a shift,” Imgur told WebProNews at the time.
*Note: Imgur’s “Top Images” list is editorial, and doesn’t simply rely on views.