Instagram's Change to Stay the Same

       Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media outlets available to the public. Recently the Facebook-owned photo sharing company has announced the launch of it’s website-equivalent, which functions just like the app does on your smart phone; but they have left out one key element - the ability to upload photos.

       It has been two years since the release of the Instagram app for iPhones and Androids, and in that time it has gone from a relatively unknown photo sharing application to servicing 90 million users today. It’s no wonder that Facebook bought Instagram last April for a whopping 1 billion dollars. This web-based experience now allows users to access and view photos, but the company wanted to keep one key aspect of their application the same – photo uploads are still only mobile-based.

      Many of us are left asking why the two year delay if Instagram hasn’t made any major changes to the website or app. One way of looking at reasons for the the web expansion is the growing number of tablets and netbooks consumers are carrying with them today, and taking into consideration the amount of potential users who are excluded from using the popular app. This now provides users with the continued ability to view Instgram through a variety of devices that now include your PC, laptop or tablets.  However, in an attempt to deter users from committing copyright infringements, Instagram’s choice to limit sharing abilities to mobile devices may have actually been a smart business choice. The sharing capabilities, now restricted to mobile devices, allows the company to indirectly control the source of the images being shared.

       So why is this so important to marketers? With millions of consumers, and companies flocking to social media, Instagram gives marketers another consumer touch-point to influence through visuals and short messages. It has become a perfect way to allow brands to get their messages across as quickly and effectively as possible. The company’s transition to the web allows marketers to reach a wider audience that can be engaged with the brand and hopefully be influenced by it.