Instaggram Case Study

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In April of 2012, Facebook announced that it would buy Instagram, an online mobile photo/video-sharing social networking app. The acquisition cost Facebook approximately $1 billion in cash and stock, in attempts to provide Facebook with a strengthening mobile player that would continue to reel in new audiences of all ages worldwide. Instagram was launched in 2010, and had around 30 million active users by the time the acquisition was met—the largest audience of any startup ever to be purchased by Facebook. The acquisition was a notable step for Facebook, whose mobile site became a weakness in past years. Purchasing Instagram was Facebook’s chance to resolve this issue, as Instagram was the most downloaded application on the iPhone at the time. …show more content…

Facebook’s acquisition for Instagram presents some benefits for Facebook, according to a few observers on the deal. Facebook understood that Instagram was fast growing in the social media world, and knew that the recently made smartphone app would give Facebook a run for its money, literally. Instagram had the mobile-first persona that Facebook hadn’t at the time, which is why Zuckerberg knew it would be wise to make this acquisition from the start. Gigaom contributor, Om Malik stated, “Facebook and Instagram are two distinct companies with two distinct personalities. Instagram has what Facebook craves – passionate community. People like Facebook. People use Facebook. People love Instagram.” Malik also continues to express his opinion by saying, “It is my single most-used app. I spend an hour a day on Instagram. I have made friends based on photos they share. I know how they feel, and how they see the world. Facebook lacks soul. Instagram is all soul and …show more content…

However, the Facebook team expressed some ideas of their plans for Instagram’s future. “We think the fact that Instagram is connected to other services beyond Facebook is an important part of the experience. We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, the ability to not share your Instagram’s on Facebook if you want, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook.” SheGeeks.net Blogger, Corvida Raven, expresses her concerns on Instagram 's unclear future. “There’s still a ton of questions left to be answered. What data goes to Facebook? Will I have to use Facebook to sign-in or sign-up? Does Facebook get access to my Instagram pictures? What about the pictures I’ve liked on Instagram? Will those likes show up in my Facebook activity?! Instagram nor Facebook has stated anything about what will happen to user’s content on

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