Why Instagram Matters

Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and first went live in October 2010 as a mobile app. The basic premise is straightforward. Instagram allows you to upload a photo to your profile and view photos others have uploaded on a feed. The objective here is different from Facebook, however. Rather than keeping an archive of all your photos to tell your own story, the obj, active with Instagram, is more selective. You will generally upload a single image at a time and spend a little time cropping it, adding filters, and usually making it look as artistic as possible.
Many have described Instagram as an opportunity to find the art in everyday moments. You’ll see pictures of empty gyms, wine glasses with lipstick stains, sunsets, and running shoes covered in mud – all with different filters applied and a story to tell. Those who understand the platform well manage to create some very artistic images using only minimal tools.
Those tools are ‘filters.’ These are simple effects that can be applied to Instagram images to give them a retro look, different color temblores, faded results, and much more.
It took no time for the service to grow to 100 million users by April 2012 and 300 million by December 2014. This is unheard of growth in the industry; it was only a matter of time before Facebook knocked and made an acquisition. Facebook demonstrated tremendous faith in the platform when, in April 2012, it purchased Instagram for the whopping US $1 million (cash and stock). This would prove to be an intelligent move – while Instagram grew by 23% over the following year, Facebook would only increase by 3% during the same timeframe.
Facebook made a promise to Instagram users at the time not to ruin the platform with new features or to be too intrusive. For the most part, the company has been faithful to its word, and it would be fair to say that Instagram has maintained its integrity and core purpose over the years. Instagram has been somewhat integrated into Facebook but not to a considerable degree; if you did not know that the same company owned the two, you could not realize it on looks alone.
That said, there have still been many changes and updates to Instagram over the years, which have primarily improved the platform. For instance, Instagram initially only supported a square image format to mimic old Polaroid photos. Later, it would introduce the ability to upload pictures in various aspect ratios, creating many more possibilities over time.
Another perhaps overdue feature that was added in 2013 was video sharing. Users could record and share videos for up to 15 seconds, with resolutions of 640x640. Some saw this as an attempt to compete with other video–sharing platforms, such as vine. However, it was arguably a logical addition to the platform’s roster of features.
Then came more precise editing controls. Rather than just being able to add different filters, users could now alter different settings manually – controlling things like the brightness, the contrast, the saturation, etc.
Instagram Direct was also added in 2013 and was another critical upgrade. This allowed users to send images directly to other users. In 2015, new features were added to this mode, allowing for primary instant messaging and the ability to share multiple photos at once. However, the direct option is to share pictures you think a friend or a contact will enjoy.
And then came Instagram Riches.

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