Instagram Verna Abante Professor Jay MoonCOMM 352 Individual Assignment #2 April 16, 2012 2.

. Instagram New Media Contents Introduction: What is Instagram? Features: Main Functions + Innovative Features Current Ad Cases: A New Vehicle for Advertising Facebook + Instagram My Instagram Idea 3. Instagram What is it? Instagram is a newly developed digital social media platform in which users are able to share and edit photos with one another. fun, fast, and ...instant! Instagram can be downloaded for free through Apples iTunes App Store and is available for use through an iPhone, iPod, or iPad. As of April 3, 2012, Instagram opened its doors to Android users through Google Play, welcoming a revolutionary breakthrough of mobile photo sharing. Brief History: Instagram was founded in 2010 by Stanford graduates, Kevin Systorm and Mike Krieger. Initially, Systorm and Krieger created an HTML5 check-in project called Burbn which was then re-developed to cater only photo-sharing uploads. On October 6, 2010, Instagram was born into Apples App Store, generating 10,000 registered users within the rst few hours of its new app life. Today, with 30 million users and over 200 million uploads, Instagram continues to be the leader in mobile space, quickly climbing up the social media ladder at instant speeds! 4. Instagram Main functions + Innovative features An Instagram user account includes free, unlimited access to their social network with plenty of fun play with photos. Users are granted the following features: User prole: Instagram lets you choose your own username and allows you to input a prole that includes a bio of no more than 150-characters. 17 Custom Photo Filters: The photo lters transform ordinary, boring smartphone pictures into snazzy legit photography masterpieces by editing its color, mood, border and tonality of your photos. The creators wanted to imitate vintage, polaroid effects without having to lug around an actual camera. But, if you feel your photo doesnt need an extra lift, you have the option of using no lter and/or no border. But wheres the fun in that? 5. Instagram Main functions + Innovative features Compatibility with Other Social Networks: Want to share on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and Flickr all at once? Instagram saves you the extra time of uploading to your other social networks by having a built-in multi-sharing feature. You can also nd friends through your existing social network accounts to see if theyre using Instagram, too. Now everyone can know that youre a true mobile photographer! Simplistic Interface: Instagram is easy to navigate and very minimalistic in design. There is no limit on how many photos you can upload, no caption character limit, and no rule about how many times you can comment or like photos. Privacy: Instagram values the privacy of all its loyal users but currently only offers a private prole option which lets you control who sees your prole by request. You can also report/ag a photo if it is offensive to you or others. Hopefully developers are working on ways to protect your privacy as Instagram becomes mainstream because privacy is denitely an issue in New Media networking today. 6. Instagram A New Vehicle For Advertising One of the many benets of Instagram is being able to share one photo to a multitude of people at one time for free. If that doesnt scream POTENTIAL for advertisers, I dont know what does! There isnt any monetary functionality on the Instagram platform as of late (and they clearly state this on their site), but there is denitely a future and booming opportunities for marketers and advertisers to utilize this new wave of photo sharing. I have been an avid user of Instagram since it launched back in 2010. At rst, I followed friends, family and people I knew personally. As Instagram caught wind to many more people, a lot of businesses, companies, brands, and even celebrities jumped on the bandwagon. I then followed accounts that interested me and was especially excited to see

Behind-The-Scenes (BTS) content viewable only to their Instagram fan followers. This trend started a whole new personal connection level with their audiences --something advertisers should absolutely take into account. 7. Instagram A New Vehicle For Advertising For example, my favorite clothing company, Free People, runs a retail store, an eCommerce store, an online blog, a Facebook fan page, a Twitter, and now they are easily one of the most followed on Instagram. Although they cannot legally buy media space on Instagram at the moment, theyve created several ways to share their brand with consumers and fans without bombarding them with actual ads. BTS Photos: Free People has HQs in LA and NYC. Often times, they feature Free People employees on their Instagram and followers are able to see a backstage pass to whos behind the label. Free People also posts photos of whats new, sneek peaks, live events, and current projects of their line for their audiences to like and/or comment. It gives this virtual one-on-one tour of a Free People employee POV as if you were in their shoes. This method creates an intimate connection with fans and absolutely solidies the relationship they have with the brand by getting exclusive VIPlike access. 8. Instagram A New Vehicle For Advertising Hash Tags: A hash tag is a tag on a photo that allows users to search for photos and people who are using the same tag. It is usually typed as #yourtag. For instance, if I tagged my photo as #FreePeople, Instagram users then have easier access to my post if they are searching for Free People and are able to like and/or comment it. One time, Free People actually liked and commented on a photo of mine that used their hash tag. It was awesome and it takes customer service to a whole new level. Hash-tagging is benecial to advertisers because it collects raw data of consumers and it can give ideas of prime target audiences. Also, the interaction concept is very important in building brand loyalty and ensuring fans appreciation 9. Instagram Facebook + Instagram In more recent news, Facebook --the nations and parts of the worlds leading social network-- recently bought out Instagram for $1,000,000,000... paid full in cash and stocks! How will this affect the former independently-run Instagram? Im hoping it wont affect them. According to CNN.com, Facebook likes to scoop up hot startups, kill their products, and redeploy their staff on other projects. Thats definitely not the plan for Instagram, all the players insist. Instagram gained success literally overnight and kept increasing during its first year trial with only a handful of staff overseeing the popular app. With Facebook on its side, Im expecting there will be more good done than bad. An app as great as Instagram was iPhones best kept secret. Then it became Androids. And now Zuckerbergs. Although I was one of the disappointed fans of this social media buy-out merging, I have come to terms with the understanding that Instagram needed a structural business plan if it wanted to survive the murky, fierce, competitive social media waters. The team at Instagram vows to keep its photo-sharing app-abilities the same. How will this affect Facebook and advertising? Facebook bought Instagram as an avenue to better personal advertising, bottom line. Its to nobodys surprise that ads on Facebook are really annoying. However, the only way Facebook can generate revenue through its ads is if people actually clicked on them. Facebook needed to get creative quick with their advertising before people started turning sour and this is where Instagram comes in. As I mentioned in an earlier slide, Instagram can share a post through multiple sources at once. A possible way to create a better marketing experience on Facebook now that they are partners with Instagram is through Instagrams content. Say I take a photo of my new BMW on Instagram. I share it on Facebook. Facebook now has the ability to sell that photo to BMW and use it as a personal consumer ad. This type of ad experience is more genuine

because my friends see that its my post, and not BMW. Less spammy ads on Facebook are ideal and prove to be one of the objectives of this billion-dollar Instagram sale. (CNN.com) 10. Instagram My Instagram Advertising Honestly, I am a fan of Instagram because it is simple. It uses still photos to speak instead of words, music, or motion. I would use Instagram to market my product/business in 3 ways: personal, promotion, play Personal: Similar to many companies and businesses who have established their ground in the Instagram world, I plan to create an account with plenty of BTS Content. I love being able to have exclusive, rst-look privileges just for following a brand. Id show photos of production, of employees, of fans, of PR events or live shows. Id give the audience the up close & personal book-signing type of photo without actually having to line up to get a closer look. The more positive behind the scenes a consumer sees, the more knowledge they have of my product. Promotion: If its possible, I would post photos of coupons and special savings exclusive to Instagram users. They can show the coupon from my Instagram and get discounts. I also like the idea of hash tags. If Im selling, say, a diamond ring. I could type in #diamondring or simply #ring on Instagrams search bar and promote/comment those who have photos of rings and whod be interested in buying more. Play: The fun part of Instagram is that its this one big playground of what people view around them. They take pictures of their food, their kids, their face, their vacations, etc. Id probably do contests using hash tags and photos for my product. People love playing, but they love winning more. So Id love to do create contests that involve scavenger hunts or even being artistic with the different lters Instagram offers. The possibilities are endless with just a smartphone and Instagram in hand. 11. Instagram

Instagram is an online photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos, apply digital filters to them, and share them on a variety of social networking services, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr.[5] A distinctive feature is that it confines photos to a square shape, similar to Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid images, in contrast to the 16:9 aspect ratio now typically used by mobile device cameras. Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and launched in October 2010. The service rapidly gained popularity, with over 100 million active users as of April 2012.[6][7] Instagram is distributed through the Apple App Store and Google Play.[8] Support was originally available for only the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch; in April 2012, support was added for Android camera phones running 2.2 Froyo. Originally a purely photo-sharing service, Instagram incorporated video sharing in June 2013, allowing its users to record and share videos lasting for up to 15 seconds.[9] This venture has been seen by some as Facebook's attempt at competing with Twitter's Vine video-sharing application. [10][11][12][13]

Contents

1 History 2 Popularity o 2.1 Users o 2.2 Trends 2.2.1 Weekend Hashtag Project 3 Features and tools o 3.1 Filters 4 Criticism and lawsuits o 4.1 Terms of use 5 Related products and services 6 Awards 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

History
Instagram began development in San Francisco when Kevin Systrom and Brazilian Michel "Mike" Krieger chose to focus their multi-featured HTML5 check-in project Burbn on mobile photography.[14][15] On March 5, 2010, Systrom closed a $500,000 seed funding round from Baseline Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz while working on Burbn.[16] Josh Riedel joined the company as Community Manager.[17] Shayne Sweeney joined in November 2010 as an engineer and Jessica Zollman was hired as a Community Evangelist in August 2011.[18][19] In January 2011, Instagram added hashtags to help users discover both photographs and each other.[20] Instagram encourages users to make tags both specific and relevant, rather than tagging

generic words like "photo" in order to make photographs stand out and to attract like-minded Instagrammers.[21] In September, version 2.0 went live in the App Store (iOS). It included new and live filters, instant tilt shift, high resolution photographs, optional borders, one click rotation and an updated icon.[22] On February 2, 2011, it was announced that Instagram had raised $7 million in Series A funding from a variety of investors, including Benchmark Capital, Jack Dorsey, Chris Sacca (through Capital fund), and Adam D'Angelo.[23] The deal valued Instagram at around $25 million.[24] On April 3, 2012, Instagram for Android was released,[25] and it was downloaded more than one million times in less than one day.[26] That same week, Instagram raised $50 million from venture capitalists for a share of the company; the process valued Instagram at $500 million.[24] In the next three months Instagram was rated more than one million times on Google Play[27] and was the fifth app ever to reach one million ratings on Google Playas of April 2013, it had been rated nearly four million times. In its largest acquisition deal to date, Facebook made an offer to purchase Instagram (with its 13 employees) for approximately $1 billion in cash and stock in April 2012,[28] with plans to keep the service independently managed.[29] Britain's Office of Fair Trading approved the deal on August 14, 2012,[30] and on August 22, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission in the United States closed its investigation, allowing the deal to proceed.[31][32] On September 6, 2012, the deal between Instagram and Facebook officially closed.[33] On April 12, 2012, Facebook acquired Instagram for approximately $1 billion in cash and stock.[34][35] The deal, which was made just before Facebook was scheduled to go public, cost Facebook about a quarter of the cash-on-hand they had as of the end of 2011. The deal was for a company characterized as having "lots of buzz but no business model", and the price was contrasted with the $35 million Yahoo! paid for Flickr in 2005,[29] a website which has since become among the 50 most popular in the world.[36] Mark Zuckerberg noted that Facebook was "committed to building and growing Instagram independently", in contrast to its common practice of, as CNNMoney.com put it, buying "hot startups, kill[ing] their products, and redeploy[ing] their staff on other projects."[29] According to multiple reports, the deal netted Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom $400 million based on his ownership stake in the business.[37] The exact purchase price was $300 million in cash and 23 million shares of stock.[38] On December 17, 2012, Instagram updated its Terms of Service, granting itself the right to sell users' photos to third parties without notification or compensation starting on January 16, 2013.[39][40][41][42][43][44] The criticism from privacy advocates, consumers, National Geographic[45] and celebrities like Kim Kardashian[46] prompted Instagram to issue a statement retracting the controversial terms; regardless, the issue caused Instagram to lose a portion of its user-base as former users switched to other Instagram-like services. These services included Pheed, a multimedia social sharing platform launched in November, that gained more new users than any other app in the United States the week that Instagram changed their terms of service.[47] Another service that gained many new users post-announcement was Yahoo!s Flickr[48][49][50] which Flickr released as the new mobile app for iOS with built-in vintage filters to rival with Instagram

prior to the changes of terms and conditions by Instagram.[51][52][53] Instagram is currently working on developing new language to replace the disputed terms of use.[54] In January 2013, it was confirmed that Instagram has asked for photo IDs to verify identities due to unspecified violations.[55] In January 2013, there were no future plans to make the application available on the BlackBerry's O.S. 7 devices, although it is probable that one will be available for the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 devices.[56] (Current alternatives for BlackBerry 7 devices include InstaPhoto,[57] LensBoost,[58] and Photo Studio,[59] two of which are available with various pricing.) Instagram has no plans to offer Windows Phone support,[60] though a release of an Instagram app for Windows Phone is rumoured for May 2013.[61] Initially a purely photo-sharing service, Instagram incorporated video sharing in June 2013, allowing its users to record and share videos lasting for up to 15 seconds.[62] This venture has been seen as some as Facebook's way of competing with Twitter's Vine video-sharing application. [63][64][65][66]

Popularity
Users
By December 2010, Instagram had 1 million registered users.[67] In June 2011 Instagram announced it had 5 million users[68] and it passed 10 million in September of the same year.[69] In April 2012, it was announced that over 30 million accounts were set up on Instagram.[70] Instagram announced that 100 million photographs had been uploaded to its service as of July 2011. This total reached 150 million in August 2011.[71][72] By May 2012[73] 58 photographs were being uploaded and a new user was being gained each second. The total number of photographs uploaded had exceeded one billion. There are basic Terms of Use that Instagram users must follow, including an age requirement of 13 years or older, restrictions against posting violent, nude, partially nude, or sexually suggestive photographs and responsibility for one's account and all activity conducted with it.[74] There are also proprietary rights in content on Instagram. Instagram does not claim any ownership rights in the text, files, images, photographs, video, sounds, musical works, works of authorship, applications, or any other materials (collectively, content) that users post on or through the Instagram Services.[74] On August 9, 2012, English musician Ellie Goulding came out with a new music video for her song "Anything Could Happen". The video only contained fan submitted Instagram photographs that used various Instagram filters to represent words or lyrics from the song[75] and over 1200 different photographs were submitted.

On February 27, 2013, Instagram announced that they had 100 million active users, only two and a half years after first launching.[76] This was an increase of roughly 10 million users in a little over a month's time. Many celebrities have profiles on Instagram, sharing photos and videos of their personal and professional lives with fans. Some celebrities deleted their accounts in response to Instagram's proposed change to its Terms of Service, which would have allowed the photo-sharing app to sell images to advertisers without compensation to users.[77]

Trends
Weekend Hashtag Project The "Weekend Hashtag Project" is a series featuring designated themes and hashtags chosen by Instagram's Community Team.[78] Followers receive the weekend's project every Friday, and each project encourages participants to post creative photographs according to the designated theme each weekend.[78]

Features and tools

A photo collage of an image modified with 16 different Instagram filters. Users can upload photographs and short videos, connect their Instagram account to other social networking sites (which will enable the option to share uploaded photos to those sites), and follow other users' feeds.[79] As of June 2013, users can connect their Instagram account to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr. In 2012, Instagram created web profiles which allows users to use their Instagram account like a social media site. This gave users a web profile featuring a selection of recently shared photographs, biographical information, and other personal details. The web feed is a simpler version of the phone app, mimicking the look and feel users are already accustomed to.[80]

Filters

Basic image and elaboration through Instagram

Amaro Mayfair Rise Valencia Hudson X-Pro II Sierra Willow Lo-fi Earlybird Sutro Toaster Brannan Inkwell Walden Hefe Nashville 1977 Kelvin

Removed Filters

Apollo (Removed in update 2.0) Gotham (Removed in update 2.0) Lily (Removed in update 1.0.6) Poprocket (Removed in update 1.0.6, reinstated in update 1.0.7, and again removed in update 2.0)

Criticism and lawsuits

Terms of use
On December 17, 2012 Instagram announced a change to its terms of use that caused a widespread outcry from its user base. The controversial clause stated: "you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated

metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you." There was no apparent option for users to opt out of the changed terms of use without deleting their accounts.[81] The move garnered severe criticism from privacy advocates as well as consumers. After one day, Instagram apologized saying that it would remove the controversial language from its terms of use.[82] Kevin Systrom, a co-founder of Instagram, responded to the controversy, stating, Our intention in updating the terms was to communicate that wed like to experiment with innovative advertising that feels appropriate on Instagram. Instead it was interpreted by many that we were going to sell your photos to others without any compensation. This is not true and it is our mistake that this language is confusing. To be clear: it is not our intention to sell your photos. We are working on updated language in the terms to make sure this is clear.[54]

Related products and services

Instamap is an app available for iPad that allows users of Instagram to find photos based on their location or a hashtag. Results can be displayed in a gallery or linked to a map.[83] 100 Cameras in 1 is an app available for iPhone users that provides additional effects for photos uploaded to Instagram.[83] Carousel, for Macs, provides a live feed of Instagram on the Mac.[83] Statigr.am is a free app that provides personal statistics related to Instagram, including number of followers, likes, and comments, along with usage statistics.[83] Instagram & Printing - Instaprint offers a device which can be rented for social gatherings that allows users to print photographs on Instagram.[83] Printsgram allows a user's Instagram collection to be printed as a poster or stickers.[83] Printic offers one of the easiest ways to print and share Instagram pictures from an iPhone. Pictures come in a vintage 3x4 inches (7.62x10.16 cm) format, with an orange envelope and a message for the recipient.[83] Socialmatic - a graphic design firm in Italy created a prototype for a physical digital camera, called the Socialmatic, with the housing designed to look like the Instagram icon. The camera is designed with 16 GB of storage, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capability, the ability to interface with the Instagram app, and the ability to produce color prints. The project (apparently neither related to, nor officially commissioned or approved by, Instagram) seeks crowdfunding via Indiegogo, in order to be made available as a product.[84][85] Gramatica - app that gives Instagram users additional photo album options, such as: pinch/zoom, hide photo, and create lists.

Awards
Instagram was the runner-up for "Best Mobile App" at the 2010 TechCrunch Crunchies in January 2011.[86] In May 2011, Fast Company listed CEO Kevin Systrom at number 66 in the

"The 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2011".[87] In June 2011, Inc. included co-founders Systrom and Krieger in its 2011 "30 Under 30" list.[88] Instagram won "Best Locally Made App" in the SF Weekly Web Awards in September 2011.[89] 7x7Magazine's September 2011 issue featured Systrom and Krieger on the cover of their The Hot 20 2011 issue.[90] In December 2011, Apple Inc. named Instagram "App of the Year" for 2011