I hate when I have to report on stuff I just don’t care about. However, it’s big news, because for some reason I’m not particularly privy to, this photosharing service is more popular than god. Yes, Facebook has acquired Instagram. Update: “At the end of the day, that’s what Instagram filters are: a crutch, a misguided replacement for a properly composed shot and a decent sensor.”
I just don’t get Instagram and the almost religious adoration it’s getting. To me, it’s just a way to ruin perfectly fine photos with pre-configured filters, making your photos appear more unique than before, while in fact, the massive applying of the exact same limited set of filters makes photos less unique than before. But hey, to each his own. I own two Kesha albums, so what do I know, right?
Zuckerberg & pals is shelling out $1 billion in cash and shares for the photosharing service, but Facebook plans on keeping Instagram separate from the social networking site, keeping the brand intact, expanding it to other mobile products. In other words, expect more photos with default filters to show up in your feeds – not less.
“We think the fact that Instagram is connected to other services beyond Facebook is an important part of the experience,” Zuckerberg added, “We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, the ability to not share your Instagrams on Facebook if you want, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook.”
Yes, because promises like that always work out.
I only heard they existed when the iPhone users started complaining about the recent Android version of their software.
Until last week, I was not even aware they existed.
6 employees, 1 billion usd.
For something facebook could code themselves for, say, 200k.
There is some loose money floating around usa right now.
They’re paying for the brand and existing userbase. It’s often cheaper to buy those than build them in a market space that’s already occupied.
Facebook already got every user on the planet.
Also, to quote someone, do you know how much money 1bn is?
Fortunately, no.
They’re buying the brand and the product that already exists, without having to invest in the unknown. I may be worth that kind of money for them.
You sir/madam are patently talking out of your backside.
I will never ever have a Facebook, Twitter or an account on any other similar site.
My 90yr old mother isn’t signed up either. There again, she feels she has no need for using the internet beyond email and searching on her iPad.
So no, they don’t have everyone.
Well, if any of your friends:
1. Have your contact information in their phone
2. Use Facebook, and …
3. Use the contact sync option on the Facebook app
Then Facebook has your real name, phone number, and possibly your address, whether you wanted them to or not.
That being said, Facebook does have its uses. I have a fake account set up so I can use their universal login to gain access to sites that accept Facebook logins. If the account ever gets hacked, I really don’t care, since I don’t have any personal info tied to that account.
Why not just use your google account?
I trust Google a lot more than Facebook with my information.
Yeah, I have one of those too for this purpose. (Fake, of course.) I just use whichever one the site accepts.
Then you’re an idiot. If Facebook and Google were both pedophiles, Facebook would be the creepy old guy next door, while Google is the nice gentleman luring children into his house with candy, and whom nobody suspects. I mean, we’re talking about a company who drove down the f**king street, slurping data from peoples’ public wifi access points, and then claimed it was an accident when they got caught. Trust me, neither of these companies have your best interest in mind.
Edited 2012-04-10 20:39 UTC
Good thing they aren’t pedophiles.
This is true. Some people think Instagram is just about the filters, but they have their own Facebook-like social network with hundreds of thousands of users, which caters to photo enthusiasts.
Or at least, that’s what I’m told.
Instagram is wildly popular, buying its keeps it away from google+
Maybe in US, because here in Germany I don’t know anyone who knows it.
I’m from the Netherlands, and I sincerely never heard of Instagram.
I’m from The Netherlands too. I don’t use Instagram, but if you’re on Twitter, Facebook or an Apple user it’s hard to avoid. I come across Instagram posts, articles or references on a daily basis.
That explains it, I don’t use any of these
Ah, you still have the freedom!
My impression was that its popularity comes from the rubbish cameras in the iPhones pre 4S. It’s a dumb fad.
The iPhone 3Gs and 4 cameras are decent camera. There are some amazing pics taken on 3GS cameras.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyi/sets/72157619833958006/
No, they are not.
Yes, they are.
That’s exactly how I took it. With Facebook buying the service, it keeps Google from having an instant photo sharing solution for iOS like they do with Android and the Google+ app.
you know, apart from the iOS google+ app…
Which is a piece of shit written for iPhone 3 OS and is completely broken on iPhone 4/4S and iPad. Yeah, apart from that.
Don’t worry, it’s a beta!!!!
I don’t know how it works on iOS to be honest, I just know the app exists. I don’t own an iOS device…
I’m not sure if the fault lies with Google or Apple. All I know is, on my girlfriend’s iPad the app is unusable. The G+ user is better off accessing the service via Safari.
Sure, it’s not like it’s hard to do but that’s not the point.
Facebook could spend 200K (or less) on creating something similar themselves and then try to build a user-base over X number of years, costing them Y number of dollars..
Or they can purchase the company outright and be done with it. Not saying that the company is worth 1 billion (it probably isn’t) but that’s the train of thought here.
Yeah, I understand the train of thought, and disagree with it
.
Facebook can build the same service and use facebook accounts. They can easily deploy a service that is halfway good to massive amount of users.
Damn relatives that don’t know what to give us on our birthday!
Edited 2012-04-09 19:21 UTC
Serious question: do people still use Gentoo?
I’m sorry you got modded down, because it is a serious question, albeit offtopic. Gentoo never lost it’s qualities and has actually become better with time. It just stopped being a fad. So yes, people still use it and people still love it.
Cool. Now I can see Speia-Toned pictures of all the shitty meals my friends cook, rather than just regular ones.
Off topic
Wanted the share this link in which some iphone users ugly class mentality is displayed when Instagram launched there Android app.
The reply below the article from the Android users is sort of funny.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/iphone-users-disgusted-by-a…
Edited 2012-04-09 20:13 UTC
So what, you mean both Apple AND Android fanboys are elitist pricks? Who woulda thunk it? Trust me, I got some ‘dyed-in-the-wool’ Fandroids in my Google+ circles, and the amount of anti-Apple rhetoric that gets posted on a daily basis is staggering. They refer to Apple users as morons and brainwashed sheeple. So I think the ‘class mentality’ goes both ways.
For what it’s worth, I am an Apple AND Android user, so I love everyone
hehe
Edited 2012-04-09 21:30 UTC
Do you think it’s 50/50 or maybe more from the iphone community?
Honestly? I have a good idea of which side I think is worse, but I won’t say, because neither side is blameless, and it really doesn’t matter anyway. It’s bullshit no matter how you look at it, and it needs to stop. Why can’t we all just get along?
Its funny because they’re making fun of other people, when they’re the ones making bad pictures with a camera phone…
You can only make fun of any instagram users, if you have a serious camera that doesn’t allow you to make phone calls on it, and wasn’t purchased at urban outfitters.
They actually paid 1 Billion dollars for this? I would have thought Botswanese Pula …
Botswana has to many diamond fields:-)
Maybe buy Lesotho or Malawi?
Edited 2012-04-10 10:35 UTC
Pula (the Botswanese currency – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botswana_pula) means cock in Romanian. It’s a long running joke among Romanians.
Not really, (an undisclosed but presumably) large part of it was Facebook shares, valued at (an undisclosed but presumably) extremely inflated price.
I want to share my photos with my friends and family. getting them to use Instagram would be kinda hard (do they have facebook sharing now?) They did not need Instagram’s user community or brand….What they wanted was the photo sharing tech (Facebook’s mobile photo sucks ), and they wanted to remove a possible competitor before they became too large.
I have heard of Instagram, but had no idea what it is. This article explains it perfectly and captures my sentiments exactly: Truly dreadful software. Just another way Facebook can make us cringe. That said, I certainly don’t speak for all people, and if that many people love it, then that just makes me out-of-touch with the mainstream. However, as history unfolds, I am sure Facebook users will be given their just due and historians will put this time in its proper perspective… and yeah, we might look a little silly.
http://gigaom.com/2012/04/09/here-is-why-did-facebook-bought-instag…
Rather elitist language that probably defines the difference between us poor barefoot ‘puter users, and the wise, all-knowing IT heroes.
Actually, I’m more in the later category, but I do understand the average user. The have a phone they got at Radio Shack. They snap a photo. Apps like Instagram give them a way to do something cool. Sure, they could take photo classes, and buy a better camera when extra money comes floating in the mail box, but for now, Instagram works for them.
I don’t use Instagram, and am not that big on photo’s in general. However, one thing I learned from an introductory Psychology class is that you do not go around kicking the crutches out from under people until they no longer need them.
I have a feeling those all-knowing IT heroes doesn’t know as much about photography as they think.