Facebook buys Instagram
Originally published at The Preternatural Post. Please leave any comments there.
The social photo-sharing universe is about to change. Facebook is buying Instagram, the popular photo-sharing app. The billion dollar acquisition was announced earlier today by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg who said: “I’m excited to share the news that we’ve agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook.”
It’s nice to know someone is.
The rest of the socially networked worked may not share those feelings if Mashable’s report that Instagram’s download-and-delete services have been overwhelmed since the news broke early Monday, 9 April 2012 are any indication. It’s not clear how many of the more than 30 million users registered with Instagram are participating in the exodus or what effect, if any, their loss will have on the deal not to mention the position of Instagram and the transplanted team within the Facebook family will be.
Some attrition was probably expected by both the folks at Instagram and at Facebook. Zuckerberg may even have been trying to get out ahead of the problem by reassuring users in his blogged announcement. Unfortunately, the intended audience, Instagram users, probably didn’t see his announcement, unless of course they were watching Facebook. Basically, Zuckerberg said Instagram would be run independently within Facebook and not lose any features or functionality.
“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 Instagrams on Facebook if you want and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook.”
Sounds good but the proof, is in the actions, not the words. And Facebook’s actions clearly show that role players whose characters are currently members of Instagram need to be backing up their photos immediately. RPers are not welcome on Facebook and there was no mention in Zuckerberg’s mention about being able to continue as an Instagram user without also having a Facebook profile.
Basically, it appears Facebook is shelling out $1 billion in cash and stock in order to add a few million new members to the social networking giant. This strategy may backfire if the company isn’t will to welcome all Instagram users brave enough to stick with the app as it is consumed. We applaud the courage of those role players sticking it out but aren’t holding our breath regarding their long-term survival…or Instagram’s.
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