Instagram is a photo sharing app and social network popular with iPhone users. The app recently also moved to Android, and now it looks like they’ll be moving to Facebook a little more permanently. Facebook announced that they were buying the company for a whopping $1 billion in cash and stock.
Why so much for a company not worth that much on paper? There may be other speculation on the issue, but I’d say this is all about fending off Google. Google+ allowed faster and better photo sharing than Facebook, and Google purchased Picnik to integrate the photo editing features into Google+.
Instagram won’t lose the social networking integration users know and love, at least not immediately, but I have to wonder if the Instagram network may not go the way of Picnik once the purchase is complete.
What say you? Is Facebook’s purchase a win or loss for users?
Marziah Karch
Marziah Karch lives in Portland, Oregon and is the author of multiple books and magazine articles. Bylines include Lifewire, Rodale's Organic Life, Tech Republic, WIRED, and GlitterSquid Marziah is currently a doctoral candidate researching the information behavior of independent game designers.
Yeahhhh, I figured this was a Google+ battle move, too…
I follow (and generally adore) Boing Boing’s Xeni Jardin on Instagram, and her immediate response to the Facebook announcement was to put up a message saying, “See ya later.” I’m not sure that’s a fair response, though. I want to see what changes HAPPEN before I make any decisions–after all, after chunking down that amount of change, it’s in Facebook’s interest to keep Instagram-users happy. Some people were suggesting emigrating to Hipstamatic (I’m sure that with this new Instagram cash-influx, Hipstamatic will get folded into Instagram–they’re already hand-shaking as it is…) or MLKSHK.
I’m gonna sit back and watch before I take off for other services, personally…
And after reading this bit in THE NEW YORKER http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos/2012/04/instagram-facebook-and-china.html I wonder if this purchase isn’t about getting a foot in the door in Chinese social networking…that billion dollar price tag starts making a lot more sense…