So what do you think about Facebook’s purchase of Instagram?
They paid $1 billion for a two-year old photo sharing network with no profits.
If you’re not familiar with Instagram it is an app, originally released for the
iPhone back in October 2010. It allows users to apply 17 different filters to
their photos and upload them to a website where they can be shared and
discussed.
With over 30 million downloads there is no doubting its
popularity. When they released the Android version of the app last week it was
downloaded more than 1 million times in 12 hours. With more than 5 million new
photos being added every day and a celebrity user base that includes Justin
Bieber and the President, not to mention big brands like MTV and Burberry, this
is clearly more than a photo filter app.
Facebook is already the most popular photo-sharing service
in the world, with more than 250 million images uploaded daily. So why would
Facebook splash out the largest amount paid for a profitless start up since
Google bought YouTube?
Instagram is a social network for sharing photos. Beyond the
popularity and behind the accessibly simple façade there is quite a lot going
on. Instagram offers some new features in the shape of their fun filters and,
perhaps more importantly, access to an efficient and highly usable mobile app
service. Facebook also removes a potential competitor and ensures that no one
else buys them. Win-win.
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