Instagram is a photo sharing, mobile, and social networking website/app that has become extremely popular. It enables its users to take pictures and videos, make edits, and share them on a variety of different social networking platforms.
Kevin Systrom graduated from Stanford University with a BS in Management Science & Engineering. His first intern experience was through Odeo which later became Twitter.
Mike Krieger also graduated from Stanford University where he studied Symbolic Systems with a focus in Human-Computer Interaction. During his time at Stanford, he interned on Microsoft’s PowerPoint team as a PM and at Foxmarks as a software developer. He also wrote his Master’s thesis on how user interfaces can better support collaboration on a large scale before getting connected with Instagram.
Together Krieger and Systrom founded Instagram, and launched it in 2010.
Instantly Instagram became a household name with over 200 million active monthly users. Personally, one of my favorite features on Instagram is the ability to edit photos with multiple different filters before you post a picture. This allows people to do all of the editing on Instagram rather than having to use separate apps, which was a pain.
Two of the most important things that Instagram has accomplished is its ability to achieve financial support from investors. Without the financial backing of investors, Instagram would have been unable to start up as a company. To truly get a scope of the size of the deal investors made, one must look no further than to the first venture capital firms that put up seed money for Instagram: Andreesen Horowitz’s original $250,000 investment is now worth a whopping $78 million. That is 78 followed by six zeroes. A return of 312 times the initial investment. Secondly, Instagram added hashtags to its site which encouraged users connect with each other and see pictures from all over the world. This was evolutionary.
Without a doubt, Instagram is going to be around for a long time.
I agree that Instagram will be around for a long time because it is such a unique platform for people to provide personal information strictly in picture-form. I would be curious to see what your thoughts are for how businesses, specifically new entrepreneurial companies, could utilize Instagram for their targeted purpose? Matt talked about this a little bit in his post- how maybe a snowboarding company can get more attention with a creative and fresh Instagram profile of their unique products. Instagram may be more beneficial for product-based companies, but even service based businesses like a spa could post pictures of their salon, etc. to build an awareness and attractiveness to the younger generation.
I like Instagram. It is a really interesting idea. I enjoy seeing what my friends and other cool people and businesses are up to through images.
I love Instagram and how it allows me to connect to businesses. I don’t post to many pictures, but I follow companies and famous individuals allowing me to be caught up on all the gossip. Instagram is a great way to connect with people with simply a picture. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Instagram is a great tool for businesses to use to get exposure. I know many companies that have accounts on Instagram, it is a great way to publish creative advertising that people would actually want to see.
As a photographer on Instagram, I can personally say that this is an app that is hugely beneficial to any business looking to gain publicity, especially free publicity. It is one of the fastest ways to connect to the people that are searching for you who will likely become some of your best support for your business whether that is through their business or through word of mouth. We know, as humans, we connect the most with images and Instagram satisfies that desire. Companies, big or small, should take advantage of that.
I have fond instagram to be a great platform for me to reach my customers when it comes to selling shoes and I’m sure it would would great for other entrepreneurs looking to reach out to customers. I also like following the companies I like on instagram in order to keep up to date with new products.