1. A non-transient computer-readable storage medium for displaying additional content associated with images published on a digital content platform, comprising: instructions executable by at least one processing device that, when executed, cause the processing device to (a) publish one or more images on the digital content platform, (b) provide an interface that allows an end-user to activate a published image, (c) request additional content for the activated image from a content server, (d) submit image data for the activated image to a content decision engine of the content server, wherein the image data is selected from the group consisting of: the activated image, an image identifier, an image hash, an image unique reference locator (URL), an image tag, and combinations thereof, wherein the content server uses the image data to identify additional content for association with the activated image, wherein the additional content is selected from the group consisting of: an advertisement, text, data, an image, a video, one or more controls, applications, computer-readable instructions, interactive functions, informational functions, third-party in-image applications, and combinations thereof, (e) receive the additional content from the content server, and (f) perform an animation that modifies the activated image, based on the additional content received from the content server, so as to display the additional content to appear on a backside of the activated image, to overlay the activated image, or to completely cover the activated image, wherein the additional content includes links to advertisers or merchants where the end-user can purchase goods or services related to the activated image and wherein the additional content is identified by the content decision engine based on input selected from the group consisting of: algorithmic identification or analysis of the image, image recognition protocols, proximate text recognition algorithms that search for contextual information of the image based on text published proximate to the image, a submission of the image to a crowdsource network to identify the context of the image and tag the image with relevant data, a thematic tagging engine to identify and tag the image with relevant data based on a pre-defined theme, and publisher provided data on the image.