April 10, 2012 Instagram And Facebook - What!?

Facebook bought the photo sharing app Instagram for a cool $1 Billion. $1 Billion dollars for a company that has now business plan, has not made one penny and run by a bunch of hippies that built Instagram in less than 2 months. Instagram says it's a photo sharing app but its not. You can only upload your photos but you can't share anything, like other people's photos to your friends. Where's the sharing aspect? When is the last time you opened Instagram and spent hours flipping through other people's photos? Pinterest does more photo sharing in the social world than Instagram does and yet Instagram got the $1 Billion check.

Mark Zuckerberg may have been drinking something quite magical to think this was a good idea. Then again this purchase was not about making money, it's all about information. Instagram is the #1 photo sharing site (for now) and Facebook is about people. The more people the better. It's that simple, there is no other explanation than that. I wonder the percentage of photos uploaded to Facebook from Instagram compared to the Facebook native camera uploader or other mobile means. That's probably what pushed them to buy them. How do you think Facebook would like it if the primary photo uploader to Facebook was owned by Google or Microsoft? I do find it very interesting that this was announced shortly after the Android version of Instagram was released, take a shot at Google while you are at it.

Now that it's done here is the possible fate of Instagram and how it will change. Facebook says Instagram will stay the same and won't change. Which part of Instagram, the logo? Integration of Instagram into Facebook is where its headed. Here's what I see happening to Instagram.

Instagram will become the mobile photo loaded you Facebook. Every photo you upload will be shared on Instagram. Zuckerberg doesn't like social classes or privacy, he has deep social issues that he doesn't want anything private between two parties. So what a better way to open the world to everyone than take a global photo sharing app and make everyone use it. Instagram has no ability to block your photos to your just your circles. It's visible to everyone. This is Facebook's M.O.

The next big shift I see is that Instagram will expand their filters to becoming a photo editing app.

Third I see Instagram losing users by the truck load, like me. Already Instagram has lost its charm and is over saturated with crap users. After being a victim of plagiarists by these Russian frauds posting photos lifted from the Internet and posing them as their own, Instagram is not what it used to be. The point is lost, for a photographer it's not a place for promotion or exposure, it's just a blurred niche thing. Now that Facebook has taken it Instagram will fade away.

Time to take a look at Hipster or any of the other 500 photo sharing apps out there that will step up and fill the hole that Instagram has left.

Don't get me wrong, for $1 Billion I would hand over any project I have without question, no matter how attached I am to it. Money talks.

End of line.

Posted in: Facebook,Instagram,Social Media