Facebook announced this week that they were purchasing the popular photo sharing service Instragram for $1 billion dollars. Did anyone else have a flashback to Austin Powers and Dr. Evil?
Facebook does a lot of things right – but one area they have not been strong in is photo sharing. While you can post photos to your Facebook page or profile, it hasn’t been easy to share across multiple platforms. Additionally, the editing options are slim to none.
Instagram is an amazing app that allows you to add unique filters to photos you take with your smartphone. As soon as the photo is perfected, you post it to Instagram and can quickly share it with your social community on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. Photo sharing is what they are all about – and they keep it simple.
Now that Facebook has purchased Instagram – they’ll be able to add functionality that ties in with their platform. Rumor has it Facebook often buys companies to shut them down (bye, bye competition!). But Instagram is so loved – especially by celebrities – that they’ll surely take the tool and enhance it.
From a social media standpoint – I can’t wait to see what the next several months bring. How will it be used to enhance Facebook? How will it improve Facebook timelines?
What are your thoughts on the sale?
