Power Of LIFE: December 2013

What is INSTAGRAM and Why it is so popular ?

UPDATE: Facebook has acquired Instagram for $1 Billion.

Instagram is an online-photo sharing,video sharing and social networking service that

enables its users to take picture,apply digital filters to them and share them on a variety of social networking service such as Facebook,Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr. Now it also can connect with WeChat.

Although Instagram has only been around for a little over three months, you’ve most likely heard of it, if not used it. For those of you in the former category, I’ve got an overview for you of what it is and why I think it’s so wildly popular. Instagram is a photo-sharing app for iPhone and Android. Sorry Blackberry users, it’s not available for you yet. One of the reasons Instagram is based on the iPhone is because of its amazing camera. So people are already taking lots of great pictures with their phones, why not try to make them more interesting?

Here's a bit info of Instagram.

Launched on October 6, 2010
#1 in the App Store within 24 hours of launch
iPhone App of the Week
Holds the record as quickest to reach 1 million downloads, occurring on December 21, 2010
Launched 7 new languages
An Instagram photo made the cover of the Wall Street Journal
Surpassed 25 million users in early March, 2012

So why everyone flocking to Instagram. What does it actually do ?

Photo Sharing: You can take pictures within the app or use photos that already exist in your camera roll. You can give your photo a title, which is helpful and fun. Photos can be instantly shared, not only on Instagram, but also facebook, twitter, Flickr, Posterous and Tumblr. You can also connect with your foursquare account and tag your photos with location. By default, photos are public on Instagram. If you want people to have to ask permission before they follow you, set to private. To date, I don’t follow anyone with a private account. That’s what facebook is for.

Photo Manipulation: The ‘cool’ factor of Instagram is the fact that they have 11 different filters you can use to up the interest of your pix. Even boring photos can look amazing with some of these filters. Instagram has tweaked their filter selection since launch and there are indications that eventually you will be able to purchase additional filters. Filters range from retro to futuristic. When you factor in other photo manipulation apps like Diptic, Camera+, 100 Cameras andLabelBox, the possibilities are endless.

Social: Instagram, like any other social network, is based around having friends or followers. On Instagram you ‘follow’ people. At the top of your profile (or anyone’s profile) you will see the username, profile pic, how many photos have been uploaded, how many followers the account has, and how many they are following. When you follow someone,

their photos show up in your stream. The only other things you can do are ‘like‘ photos and comment on them. Both are appreciated. People ask questions in the comments, like ‘where was this taken’ or ‘what app did you use for that?’. Once you get into using Instagram, you will see how laid back people are and how much fun they are having. It’s currently a very friendly community.

Finding People to Follow: Instagram lets you see which of your twitter and facebook friends are using instagram and easily start following them. There is also a ‘Invite Friends’ feature, but that simply links to your address book ~ and the rest is up to you. Instagram will also suggest users if you like. My two favorite ways of finding people to follow are 1) the Popular Page and 2) Seeing who is leaving interesting comments on pix I like. The Popular Page shows you which pix currently have the most Likes. You will inevitably find 2 cat pictures, 3 sunsets and 4 with really amazing lines (people seem to like symmetry). You can click on any photo on the popular page and see all the other photos posted by that person, and many times you will want to follow. It takes a lot of followers to end up on the popular page, so they’re usually pretty good photogs. From there, I might look at the pix of some of the people who are leaving comments that I think are a) funny or b) similar to my thinking. Following may ensue. I also tend to look at the pix of people with interesting user names like ‘kyotosong’ or ‘lioness_in_maui’. In general, Instagram is not about ‘promoting your personal brand’. You will, however, find some superstars on Instagram, if you consider tech geeks to be superstars. Scobleizer and Paris Lemon have accounts, as do twitter founders Jack Dorsey and Ev Williams. And a must follow is NPR ~ amazing pix. National Geographic joined Instagram but has yet to upload a photo. They are, however, taking comments on what you would like to see.

So that’s the gist of how Instagram works. What makes it so wildly popular?

The photographs. You will find some of the most amazing photographs you have ever seen on Instagram. The tools we now have allow almost anyone with a decent eye to take beautiful, crisp shots. That’s not to say you won’t find the everyday and mundane on Instagram, because you will. But as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. All the more important to be careful who you follow on Instagram, because its all about who’s in your feed ~ what do you find interesting? Some people take shots of nothing but weddings, or landscapes, or horses. Determine what is is you want to look at, or look at whatever strikes your fancy.

The advantages of Instagram

Benefit 1: Personal touch

When I say personal touch, I’m not referring to the color of your office walls or your pretty business cards. What I’m referring to is your personality outside of your business. Like many other small business owners, you may have emptied your savings, took a big risk or gave up an office job to do what you love. But most of your customers don’t know that about you.

Instagram gives you the perfect opportunity to show customers your personal side. By doing this you’ll not only make your business more personable, you’ll leave a lasting impression on current and future customers.

How?

Show your role in the business by giving your customers a behind-the-scenes peek at how you run things. This could be a picture of you in a meeting or a video of you playing a prank on a co-worker. These types of simple pictures and videos can be done in less than five minutes and will add a nice personal touch.

Benefit 2: New demographic

Instagram connects people from all over the world to one another through images. And once you start using it, you automatically open yourself up to a completely new demographic of people. For most small business owners, and of course depending on your target audience, this can only be a good thing.

Over 150 million people use Instagram, with 55 million photos being uploaded every day. Take advantage of this incredibly large, active network of people. Connect with potential prospects!

How?

It’s pretty easy. Simply download the app and start creating your presence on Instagram. Staying open to new connections and being active is the best way to interact with a new demographic.

Benefit 3: Network

It’s easy to get caught up in all those pretty pictures, but like I mentioned before, there is more to Instagram than the photos. Instagram is like any other social network, so use it to its fullest and network!

Social networks were created to help people meet new people and build relationships. Start interacting with a whole new network of interconnected people. In turn, you could gain followers, potential new customers, or new partners.

And it doesn’t end there. Instagram is connected to Facebook and Twitter. This makes it easy to connect all of your networks and use them interchangeably without too much stress.

How?

Like, comment, and follow others and you will begin to see your follower numbers rise. Once you connect Instagram with Facebook and Twitter, you can add to the friends and followers you already have. And remember, like any other social network, you have to stay active to continue to build your presence and maintain what you’ve already established.

So taking cool pics and videos can do all of the things above?

They do say a picture is worth a thousand words, right? Pictures tell stories and if used properly, can drive engagement. Instagram can be a powerful channel that allows you to show customers the personal side of your business, connect with new prospects, and network to create meaningful relationships. Pinterest is another great social media network that drives engagement through images.