The amazing impact of Instagram
Following on from my last Social Media blog covering Pininterest, this month we will be exploring Instagram.
Instagram is another ‘photo sharing’ social media site, originally launched in Oct 2010, it quickly became No 1 in the App store, all within 24 hrs of launch. It was originally launched as an app for IPhones only – this was mainly due to the superb camera features available on the IPhones. Instagram is now available for Android and was recently acquired by Facebook for a reported $1 Billion. Instagram is mainly designed for people who really enjoy taking great photos, sharing them with friends and viewing other wonderful photographic creations. Ordinary people are now able to take truly amazing photos with their IPhones – the old phrase really fits with this site ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’. Instagram is all about the photo you take, whether that be funny, serious, news worthy or just something you think is stunning – you can then ‘share’ this with your followers.
So how do you get started? Well as with most things, this starts by going to the App Store, downloading the App, setting up an account, choosing a user name and uploading a profile picture – simples!!
In Instagram, you can either use photos stored on your camera or take new ones, once you have given your photo a title, you can then share your photos on Facebook, Twitter and Flicker (and of course on Instagram). All photos do have a ‘open to public’ status, so you should be aware that you need to set your default to private – this ensures viewers will have to seek permission before they follow you or view your photos.
Instagram also offers a brilliant set of tools which allows you to ‘tweek’ your photos, without having to use complex photo editing programmes like Photoshop. You can edit and add filters to your photos – making even the dullest photo look somewhat of a master piece!!
With regards to the ‘social’ side of this site, it is all driven around you having friends and followers. Like twitter, you opt to follow like users – once you do this, you can then see their photo stream. You can make comments or click to ‘like’ a photo.
So what is stopping you?? Get your cameras out and start taking and sharing your photos – it has never been simpler.
