Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion. Both sides are promising things will stay largely the same, but, as with the Android Instagram app, not all tweens are convinced it'll stay cool.
The way Facebook and Instagram tell it, its unclear who
did the proposing and who said I do. What is clear is that the
social-networking site is purchasing the photo-sharing app for $1 billion.
We couldnt be happier to announce that Instagram has
agreed to be acquired by Facebook, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom wrote in an April 9 blog post.
Im excited to share ¦ that weve agreed to acquire
Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
posted an hour earlier.
Instagram has approximately 30 million active users, and
Zuckerberg noted that it was the first and possibly last time it would ever
acquire a company with so many users.
We dont plan on doing many more of these
[acquisitions], if any at all, he wrote.
Surely setting some minds at ease, Zuckerberg explained
that Instagram users will have the option to not share Instagram photos on
Facebook, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from
your Friends on Facebook.
We think the fact that Instagram is connected to other
services beyond Facebook is an important part of the experience, Zuckerberg
added. He went on to say that Facebook understand whats important to the
Instagram experience, and that it will try to learn from Instagrams experience
and build similar features into its programs, while also helping Instagram
continue to grow by using Facebooks strong engineering team and
infrastructure.
On April 6, Instagram announced that it was finally
opening its world to Android, in addition to Apple iOS users. In half a day,
the Android app was downloaded by more than 1 million users.
When we started Instagram, we tried to imagine what the
world would be like if every single person on earth could share the world around
them through the lens on their phones, the company announced on its blog. With the release of Instagram for
Android, were one step closer to making that goal a reality.
Systrom, in his April 9 post, added that Instagram will
remain the same app that its users know and love.
Youll still have all the same people you follow and
that follow you, Systrom wrote. Youll still be able to share to other social
networks. And youll still have all the other features that make the app so fun
and unique.
Is everyone convinced?
When the Android app launched, it besmirched the
Instagram brand for some users.
Theyre saying how its uncool now, because Android is
uncool, analyst Roger Kay, with Endpoint Technologies, told eWEEK at the time. Who are these
teenage girls?
Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst at Moor
Insights & Strategy, has an idea. Shortly after the news broke, he tweeted a screenshot of an instant message
from his 12-year-old daughter.
It ruins the purpose of instagram! OMGosh!!!! she
wrote, complete with crying emoticons.
How does it ruin it? he asked.
BECAUSE FACEBOOK IS STUPID AND FOR OLD PEOPLE AND IT
WILL CHANGE INSTAGRAM. More crying emoticons.
Some focus-grouping might have caught that one. Still, if Zuckerberg and
Systrom stay true to their words and little changes, maybe theyll win her
over.
Michelle Maisto has been covering the enterprise mobility space for a decade, beginning with Knowledge Management, Field Force Automation and eCRM, and most recently as the editor-in-chief of Mobile Enterprise magazine. She earned an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University, and in her spare time obsesses about food. Her first book, The Gastronomy of Marriage, if forthcoming from Random House in September 2009.
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