| December 15, 2011

What is Instagram and Why Is It So Popular?

August 16, 2012:  Version 3.0 was released today.  Read my thoughts on the latest update.

This post originally appeared on my personal blog, Social Lux, in January 2011.  Since it continues to get a large amount of traffic every day, and Instagram continues to grow in popularity, I thought I would share it here.

UPDATE:  Facebook has acquired Instagram for $1 Billion.

Update:  Instagram released an Android version on April 3, 2012.  

Although Instagram has only been around for a little over three months, you’ve most likely heard of it, if not used it.  For those of you in the former category, I’ve got an overview for you of what it is and why I think it’s so wildly popular. Instagram is a photo-sharing app for iPhone.  Sorry Blackberry & Android users, it’s not available for you yet.  One of the reasons Instagram is based on the iPhone is because of its amazing camera.  So people are already taking lots of great pictures with their phones, why not try to make them more interesting?

Here’s a bit about the brief but amazingly quick ascendancy of Instagram:

  • Launched on October 6, 2010
  • #1 in the App Store within 24 hours of launch
  • iPhone App of the Week
  • Holds the record as quickest to reach 1 million downloads, occurring on December 21, 2010
  • Launched 7 new languages
  • An Instagram photo made the cover of the Wall Street Journal
  • Surpassed 25 million users in early March, 2012

So why is everyone flocking to Instagram?  What does it actually do?

Easy to Get Started:  Go to the App Store, Download, Set up account, choose a username and upload a profile pic.

Photo Sharing:  You can take pictures within the app or use photos that already exist in your camera roll.  You can give your photo a title, which is helpful and fun.  Photos can be instantly shared, not only on Instagram, but also facebook, twitter, Flickr, Posterous and Tumblr.  You can also connect with your foursquare account and tag your photos with location.  By default, photos are public on Instagram.  If you want people to have to ask permission before they follow you, set to private.  To date, I don’t follow anyone with a private account.  That’s what facebook is for.

Photo Manipulation:  The ‘cool’ factor of Instagram is the fact that they have 11 different filters you can use to up the interest of your pix.  Even boring photos can look amazing with some of these filters.  Instagram has tweaked their filter selection since launch and there are indications that eventually you will be able to purchase additional filters.  Filters range from retro to futuristic.  When you factor in other photo manipulation apps like Diptic, Camera+, 100 Cameras and LabelBox, the possibilities are endless.

Social: Instagram, like any other social network, is based around having friends or followers.  On Instagram you ‘follow’ people.  At the top of your profile (or anyone’s profile) you will see the username, profile pic, how many photos have been uploaded, how many followers the account has, and how many they are following.  When you follow someone, their photos show up in your stream.  The only other things you can do are ‘like‘ photos and comment on them.  Both are appreciated.  People ask questions in the comments, like ‘where was this taken’ or ‘what app did you use for that?’.  Once you get into using Instagram, you will see how laid back people are and how much fun they are having.  It’s currently a very friendly community.

Finding People to Follow: Instagram lets you see which of your twitter and facebook friends are using instagram and easily start following them.  There is also a ‘Invite Friends’ feature, but that simply links to your address book ~ and the rest is up to you.  Instagram will also suggest users if you like.  My two favorite ways of finding people to follow are 1) the Popular Page and 2) Seeing who is leaving interesting comments on pix I like.  The Popular Page shows you which pix currently have the most Likes.  You will inevitably find 2 cat pictures, 3 sunsets and  4 with really amazing lines (people seem to like symmetry).  You can click on any photo on the popular page and see all the other photos posted by that person, and many times you will want to follow.  It takes a lot of followers to end up on the popular page, so they’re usually pretty good photogs.  From there, I might look at the pix of some of the people who are leaving comments that I think are a) funny or b) similar to my thinking.  Following may ensue.  I also tend to look at the pix of people with interesting user names like ‘kyotosong’ or ‘lioness_in_maui’.  In general, Instagram is not about ‘promoting your personal brand’.  You will, however, find some superstars on Instagram, if you consider tech geeks to be superstars.  Scobleizer and Paris Lemon have accounts, as do twitter founders Jack Dorsey and Ev Williams.  And a must follow is NPR ~ amazing pix.  National Geographic joined Instagram but has yet to upload a photo. They are, however, taking comments on what you would like to see.

So that’s the gist of how Instagram works.  What makes it so wildly popular?

The photographs.  You will find some of the most amazing photographs you have ever seen on Instagram.  The tools we now have allow almost anyone with a decent eye to take beautiful, crisp shots.  That’s not to say  you won’t find the everyday and mundane on Instagram, because you will.  But as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  All the more important to be careful who you follow on Instagram, because its all about who’s in your feed ~ what do you find interesting?  Some people take shots of nothing but weddings, or landscapes, or horses.  Determine what is is you want to look at, or look at whatever strikes your fancy.

There’s no Klout on Instagram. Just because you’re Dennis Crowley doesn’t mean you’re going to have a million followers on Instagram.  It’s all about the pix.  So post the pictures of your dog, or the socks you’re wearing or the street signs you pass on the way to work.  It’s OK here.  And no one cares if your follower/following count is upside down, in fact most people’s are.  You can go away from Instagram for a week or two and nobody will notice.  You can peek in and take a look when you want…post some pix when you want.  No one is going to unfollow you.  And if they do, big deal.  No pressure here.

A running documentary of your life. I’ve posted 150+ pix in the past two months and I like looking through to see where I’ve been and what I’ve done.  You’ll like it too.

The Community. My experience on Instagram has been extremely enjoyable.  I’ve never seen negative comments on people’s pix.  But I have seen people with large followings using those followings to try to do something good ~ ie raise awareness and possibly donations towards those affected by the flooding in Queensland, Australia.  I’ve talked to other Instagram’ers from China and Hawaii, and follow people from Amsterdam, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.  It’s a very global community and has a flat-world feel.

An Education on our Shared Humanity. This is my favorite part of Instagram.  Getting a glimpse into the everyday lives of people who I’ll  never meet, who live in completely different cultures than I do.  What I’ve found is not so much how different we are, but how alike we all are.  People all over the world celebrate weddings and birthdays, cherish their children and pets, appreciate a nice sunset or beach scene, like to drink (yes, they do) and are obsessed with food.  I love looking at pictures from China and seeing the dichotomy between Old China and New China.  And you can find something that fascinates you as well.

Instagram is a keeper.  If you like using Instagram, share with me how you use it or what you’ve learned from looking at all those pix.  If you have a question on using Instagram, or suggestions for some great people to follow, I’d love to hear from you too.  I’m @kellylux on twitter and Instagram.

Kelly Lux

I connect people and share information = I work in social media. Executive Editor of Information Space, Social Communications manager at the iSchool, Co-founder of #CMGRchat on twitter and Adjunct Professor teaching Social Media and Online Community Management.

More Posts - Twitter

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  3. Who Are the Contenders to be ‘The Next Instagram’?
  4. How Instagram’s Coming Alive
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  • Enea Catalin
     

    So, Instagram is just like facebook bu only for sharing pictures? I will give it a try..

    Enea. C
    http://orderphoneonline.co.uk

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  • http://submitphotography.blogspot.com/ Submitphotography
     

    good pictures

    Submit Your Photography

  • Anonymous
     

    Square is a great entrepreneurial story and the future seems to be bright for Jack Dorsey and company.  That doesn't mean, however, that the payment processor has no issues to solve and I recently read a review of the service that points squarely (sorry, I couldn't resist it) at the two biggest gripes users have with the service: the inability to easily speak to a customer service representative and the holds the company places on its users' money under certain conditions.

    The first issue is easily fixed and I just can't understand how Square, whose COO is, after all, a former PayPal executive, doesn't deem it important to provide a number for their customers to call when they have a question.  The second issue is much more complicated, as it has to do with risk management, but Square should at the very least do a better job at communicating its policy.

    Still, overall the Square guys are doing a great job and I'm confident that they'll improve over time.  http://blog.unibulmerchantservices.com/square-mobile-payments-customer-service-phone-numbers-and-money-holds

    • Anonymous
       

      Thank you for your email. I am out of the office on vacation today Friday February 3rd. I will repy to you email promtly upon my return Monday Febrary 6th.
      Thank you.

  • Gumchewer2day
     

    add me i want 60 followers before my b day 3 days 

    instagram id: gumchewer3

  • Jamazing101
     

    Follow me! im new but i'll post cool pics

    • Erirey
       

      I'm new too! you can follow me @ererirey

  • Colin
     

    Sounds really interesting.  I love the way the pictures look and I really love the social media aspects of it.

    Colin
    http://ibuycameras.net

  • Haileydevillier
     

    Follow hailey_devillier
    Thanks!! :) ))

  • Garyeason
     

    So it's the same as Flickr only with far fewer users and lots of really naff photos taken by people who don't know how to use a camera. I still don't get the appeal sorry.

    • Caprice
       

      Yeah, I won't be flocking to this app anytime soon. I really don't see how it's any different from Photoshop other than the benefit of yet another social networking site. The hype will die down in a number of months and I won't be surprised...

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  • http://twitter.com/joel1510 Joel Fernandes
     

    I think its exclusiveness to the "iOS" platform has gained it its popularity .. I think there are many other apps out there which have the same functionality and i'd dare say have better filters for pictures...

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  • Tisch
     

    Android has the Vignette app, which is not based on followers; it's just a photo taking app, and you can separately share your photos to wherever. But by far, Instagram has NOTHING on the filters and adjustments you can make to photos with Vignette. Instagram is kind of a joke to me....just saying
    ♥@Its_Tisch:twitter

    • Kelly Lux
       

      The appeal of Instagram, as I wrote about in this post, is well beyond the filters available. I use a variety of other photo manipulation apps in conjunction with Instagram to make anything I want, you're not restricted to only using IG. Also, Instagram is a thriving community. It just depends on what you're looking for. Thanks for your comment.

  • hothfox
     

    I waited for it for Android anxiously because I like the social aspect of it better than anything else out there. Now, 95% of my friends use it, and it's JUST for picture sharing (with comments and geo-tags), not status updates, badges, event invites, links to content, etc. I can see pictures friends post, comment on them, like them, and that's it.

    I'm sure when it started the iPhone had better picture quality than all of these Android phones, but now that's an antiquated argument, especially with phones like the HTC Rezound and the HTC One X (though my Nexus takes pretty good pictures too). Back then, Android was sort of still new, I guess, but now it has a HUGE market share, so there's really no excuse for an app dev not to cater to that community as well.
     
    Plus I like the filters :X

  • http://twitter.com/adrianoarwin Arwin Adriano
     

    Finally, they have entered Android community. Will give them a try.

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  • paul sykes
     

    simply BS !

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  • Pizza T
     

    This reminds me of the internet boom of the 90's. It's all gonna fall in value.

  • ondaaah
     

    "Holds the record as quickest to reach 1 million downloads, occurring on December 21, 2010"

    Say WHAT?

    Opera Mini was downloaded 1 million times without 24 hours of being released!

    http://www.opera.com/press/releases/2010/04/15/

    So where did you get the idea that Instagram was the quickest to reach 1 million?

    • http://infospace.ischool.syr.edu Kelly Lux
       

      Thanks for pointing that out.  I couldn't find the original tech crunch post I found that in (as they may have since amended it).  I've amended the post.

  • Platty
     

    You should only say sorry to bb users. Android has these built in capabilities in the camera itself so there is no need for an outside app apart from capabilities to follow someone like on twitter. With an HTC amaze or One S for example, you can add all those filters and more, share you fotos with anyone or any social site and mash fotos together from withing the camera setting. No need for an outside source. Also, the camera on an iphone fades in comparison to the ones on the android platform otherwise there would be no need for an outside app to enhance pictures of a device with such am=n "amazing camera" as mentioned. 

  • Jen
     

    But why is everyone so obsessed and always asking, "Do you have an instagran?" - Rylie

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  • http://instaphamous.com/ Buy Instagram Followers
     

    Nice post Clearly explain the content in the blog and keep on updating the blog.

  • wtf is instagram>
     

    Very well explained. Thanks.