Instagram, the hottest new app in Apple’s App Store, was downloaded over 1 million times in 12 hours. And guess what? It’s free. This completely addictive photo-sharing social network was just one week old on the Android market when the unthinkable happened: the world’s biggest online phenomenon, Facebook, bought and merged with the nation’s fastest growing app for 1 billion dollars. That is pretty much as huge as it would be if an orange bought a banana–the two most popular fruits now combined into one.
Instagram is fast and beautiful. It’s a great way to share your personal photos with friends and family. Better yet, it’s as easy as one, two, three: (1) snap (or upload) a picture, (2) choose a filter to transform its look and feel, and (3) post to Instagram. You can even select to have the pictures automatically appear on Twitter, Facebook, and/or Tumblr. Also, unlike almost any other social networking product, one can look at pictures without annoying ads. The app is almost so satisfying that it puts Facebook to shame.
It seems like it was in the 16th century when your friends and family used Facebook religiously. Personally, I visited facebook.com as if it kept me alive, scrolling down my news feed at every moment I had spare (and even at some moments that were not spare). I remember the day Instagram became popular. “It is the new Facebook,” was the first thought that came to my mind as the new app downloaded. I forced myself to post pictures even though I didn’t really know what I was doing at the time. Just like any other app, it takes a little while to get used to. But you know once you are three or four days in, it will be a whole other story.
Facebook had to know they were sinking. “CAPTAIN, WE’RE GOING DOWN!”, the classic Titanic saying had to run through a Facebook employee’s mind. So, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and owner of Facebook, rescued himself from the freezing cold waters of the Atlantic and purchased Instagram.
The orange and banana are merged, finally. Two major social media companies combined. Facebook will now use Instagram as a source of income, to keep the company “afloat”.
Uploading to Instagram is as easy as pie. It is photo sharing, reinvented.