Instagram is an application that we have come to expect to tap whenever we make use of our smartphones. The app was launched in the year 2010 and Instagram has seamlessly integrated into our lives less than 10 years. Instagram is now a household name not just from a user viewpoint, but also within the realm of marketing on the internet with one billion active users per month at present. How did this happen? What’s the history behind Instagram? Let’s see what happened to it:
Conceptualisation — Humble Beginnings
The app’s growth was evident in 2010. Instagram was founded in 2010 as Burbn in 2010 by Kevin Systrom, an app to connect people across the globe by revealing every person’s check-ins when they went to a new location. Within two weeks of discussions with venture companies, Systrom earned $500,000 in investment. In the meantime Systrom began looking for a partner and finally discovered Mike Krieger.
Since then, Burbn underwent a drastic revision. Krieger and Systrom discovered that their vision was not as similar to an existing mobile application, Foursquare. They also discovered an important trend: the use of images to communicate was increasing. Users on Burbn “were publishing and sharing pictures in a flurry”. This led to them redeveloping the concept to become what we call Instagram in the present.
(Did You Not Know? “Instagram”‘s name came from an amalgamation from “instant camera” and “telegram”!)
Launch — aim at the Moon
On the 6th of October in 2010 Instagram began its official launch. The buzz immediately increased; Instagram gained 1 million users in only three months. It was followed by two million users in just six weeks after the achievement. To give you a sense of how long it took Facebook took Facebook about 10 months before it reached 1 millionusers, Twitter 24 months as well as Tumblr for 27 months.
The first Version of Instagram was simple. You could upload photos as well as like, comment, or follow others. In September of 2011, Instagram introduced a new icon for its app that offered a variety choices of settings for cameras and settings within the app including one-touch rotation as well as new camera effects. In conjunction with the continuous improvements on the iPhone cameras, photography on phones increased in popularity; that in turn, helped Instagram’s rise to the limelight.
The month of April may have brought the most important change: Instagram was brought to the Android operating system. This opened the door to an entire new market that led to the next milestone for Instagram within the period: the 50 million people using the app. This was the moment that Instagram demonstrated that it was in the game for the long haul.
Acquisition — A New Turning Point
The same year in the same year, the Facebook acquisition of Instagram announcement spread like wildfire and spread like wildfire. Facebook has now officially purchased Instagram with a value of 1 billion dollars. It seemed impossible to acquire an enterprise with just 13 employees for this amount. Many speculated that Facebook purchased Instagram due to the fear of competition, since their user base almost coincided. Others, based on recent leaks that were not disclosed, suggested that Facebook purchased Instagram to fight off rival competitors, including Twitter and Google which were trying to acquire the brand new appealing, beautiful photo-sharing platform. Facebook has not stepped in to challenge or verify this assertion.
Whatever the reason the reasons Facebook bought Instagram the platform, its popularity was well-supported by Facebook’s persistent efforts to broaden its offerings over the past few years. In June of 2013, Instagram no longer was an image-centric platform. It added video-sharing capabilities, through which users could publish and share their videos. Since December 2013 Instagram launched Instagram Direct which is a private messaging feature also known as “DMs” in the present. In November of 2016, Instagram brought to life Instagram Live, which essentially are streams that allow users to broadcast their music, events or just live news to followers at a moment’s notice. With each new feature Instagram introduced an array of opportunities for businesses to expand their reach and improve their marketing.
Assistance — Helping Businesses
Instagram recognized its strengths as a tool to promote marketing particularly with its growing popularity across all generations that range all the way from Gen X to Gen Z. From the time Facebook acquired Instagram until now it has a variety of features that allowed companies to flourish.
Sponsored Posts as technology became prominent in our life, Instagram introduced Sponsored Posts in November 2013 with which users could promote their most engaging content to their intended viewers’ feeds. This was the beginning of Instagram’s new branding as an advertising service.
Businesses Analytics “Insights”: In August 2014, Instagram allowed business accounts to see “Insights” that they can monitor their weekly performance, ranging from their Accounts Reached as well as the number of interactions.
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Advertising Features: Although it was a burgeoning phenomenon in 2013 as an appealing chance for companies to connect with new audience members, Instagram only completely fleshed out its possibilities in the year 2015. Businesses are now able to advertise through Instagram Stories, use Facebook Pixel to monitor their users’ interests, track how well their advertisements are performing, and link via Facebook Ads Manager for multi-platform marketing.
Shop: Alongside other significant updates, the year 2020 saw an astronomical rise in the number of features Instagram offers. One notable addition, which is located just to the right of “Post” button is Shop. Businesses now have the ability to show their product and prices directly on the app and allow users to browse their feeds and experience an online shopping experience.
Competition — Keeping on with the Generation Xers Gen Z
Recent years have seen other social media platforms have accelerated their penetration into our daily lives like Snapchat and its revolutionary communications process, and TikTok to meet our limited attention time. To keep its users who are its mainstays, Instagram has attempted to create similar features that its rivals do not have.
Instagram Stories: The Battle Against Snapchat: Instagram Stories
The success of Snapchat is due to its unique method of communicating that allows users to swipe left on a friend and snap an instant photo to them. The length of time the image is displayed can be set from 1 up to 10 seconds. In addition, Snapchat allows users to create videos and photos on the site’s “My Story” and they can show it to their friends and followers for a period of 24 hours.
To be competitive, Instagram announced the beloved Instagram Story feature, which continues to be widely used. Like Snapchat Stories, Instagram Stories lets users upload photos and videos in 24 hours and show them to their followers.
The result? Instagram Stories, though developed in the wake of Snapchat, has gathered 250 million active users per day while Snapchat was able to maintain its number of users, which stood at 166 million as of 2018.
From a quantitative standpoint, Instagram undoubtedly wins out with returning customers. Both platforms have merits and distinctions in marketing your business , as and appealing to different customers. So, it’s not fair to claim that Snapchat doesn’t have any potential advertising opportunities, but in recent times, a variety of speculations and theories are suggesting that Snapchat is slowly losing its appeal.
The Combat Against Tiktok: Instagram Reels
In the few short years since it’s been in existence, TikTok has experienced rapid expansion in its popularity, growing between 300 million subscribers in January of 2019 to over 800 million by the end of January 2020. Its primary draw is its ability editing and uploading video clips, the fresh algorithm that is based on content and community-building feature “Duet”.
In response to the rising popularity of TikTok, Instagram rolled out its own features: Instagram Reels and Instagram Remix. Instagram Reels are designed to serve the same function as TikTok videos, which is a short-form video feature. Meanwhile, Instagram Remix is an exact match to the popular TikTok Duet function, which allows users to record themselves in the other person’s Reel. Although it’s too early to determine if Instagram Reels & Remix will be treated with the same fervor similar to Instagram Stories, one thing to know is the fact that different platforms are likely to be able to catch up creating a huge rivalry to catch the young generation’s interest.
Conclusion
It was initially created as an easy photo-sharing site, Instagram has emerged as an effective marketing tool for companies as well as an integral component of our everyday social media habits. It is certain it is likely that Instagram is likely to grow in the near future, and will remain present to our lives for a lengthy time. If you’re not yet look into the rest of our blog to see the ways you can make use of social media along with other platforms to improve the marketing of your business!