Instagram is a social media phenomenon that was first introduced to the world in October of 2010.  Basically it is a online photo sharing, and video sharing social networking service.  There are a couple aspects however that separate it from other social media sites.  One aspect is that Instagram confines photos into somewhat of a square shape, unlike the 4.3 aspect ratio that most mobile cameras use.  Yet another distinction that can be made is the duration of videos can be up to 15 seconds.  That is the longest period of time any kind of social media permits users to post.  Take Vine for example, and Snapchat as well.  Vine can only go up to 6 seconds, and 10 when it comes to Snapchat.  When appealing to end users, this makes more of a difference than one would think.

Instagram was created by two individuals, named Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, however Kevin is currently holds the role of CEO.  Kevin graduated from Stanford University in 2006 with a BS in Management Science & Engineering. He first interned with the company that would later become Twitter, and also spent two years working for Google. The concept of Instagram literally sums up the person who Kevin is.  His love for communication and photography made Instagram what it is today.  Mike also graduated from Stanford University where he studied Symbolic Systems.  Throughout his career he interned at Microsoft, and wrote software for a number of other companies as well.  He also worked at Meebo for a period of time as a designer and engineer, before leaving to work with Instagram, doing design and development work.

I think that Instagram is a necessity in the business world today, and for one sole reason.  In terms of a business, it’s all about the customers; the people they live and die by.  The decisions they make ultimately decide how their company will fare.  So then, the simple answer is to give the customers what they want.  In today’s world, everyone is very visually-oriented.  So the more a company can show their potential customers what they’re all about, the better.  A perfect example of this is a class I was in last year.  We helped a snowboarding company transform their business, and one thing we focused on was the presence of an Instagram account.  We thought this would be crucial, because the snowboarding community in particular cares very much about visual aspects.  Whether that is videos of cool tricks or the graphics on a board, they love it.  If i was a snowboarding enthusiast and i saw a company that had great products as well as a good Instagram account, I would be more willing to purchase their products.