Instagram – 5 million users, 5 reasons behind its growing success
14th June 2011, 10:15 am by Jo Stratmann
'Wish You Were At Topshop' New York
You may’ve seen our recent campaign with high street retailer Topshop which involved using cool photo sharing app Instagram, and today Mashable announced that the 8-month-old app has hit 5 million users and almost 100 million photo uploads.
So what is behind Instagram’s growing success? It comes down to a number of reasons.
1. Social integration
Instagram has managed to add seamless social integration to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, FourSquare, and Tumblr. And it actually works, rather than a lot of apps which apparently have integration but crash all the time or don’t pull through full contacts or information. You can even use Instagram to check in on Foursquare with a picture.
2. Instagram is a social network in its own right
As well as being able to share your Instagram photo across a variety of social networks you can also share it on Instagram itself. This, combined with the ability to “like”, comment, follow, share and interact with people through Instagram makes it a social network in its own right – you can build an entire network around your Instagram photos.
3. Simplicity
Yes, there are other photo sharing apps on the market but what makes Instagram so popular is its simplicity. As Hilel Fuld pointed out in his blog about Instagram last year, not only can you easily share your Instagram photos on Facebook or Twitter in one simple step, but Instagram also figured out that while people like to create things, even more than that they like to show them off – this is at the heart of Instagram’s success.
4. Photo enhancement
Instagram lets you enhance your photo with up to 11 different possible effects, giving the user the option to make even the most simple picture look quirky, retro or gothic depending on your image, mood or style.
5. API and third party applications
Part of Instagram’s early success can be attributed to a still nascent but very popular API that’s being accessed by more than 2,500 applications. Webstagram and Flipboard are among the most popular. There are a growing number of third party applications coming into the market place though, like Carousel, a desktop Mac app that has all the Instagram features but allows you to make a near perfect replication on your desktop.
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Al Pittampalli:
The success of instagram is staggering. I think you’re right it’s the sheer simplicity and ease of the service that is the reason why it spreads. Easy = lots of sharing, which is what it takes to get to 5 millions users.
14 June 2011, 2:24 pmStig Ove Voll:
No wonder Instagram has become a popular app. First I didn’t quite get it, but now I’m addicted to Instagram. Wrote about it on my blog: http://stigovevoll.no/archives/2288
15 June 2011, 9:31 pmOn My Radar: Instagram, Piictu, and hashtags in photo communities:
[...] the app with the cool filters that has a fan in Snoop Dogg and is being used by businesses of all sizes to promote their products and services, has been around longer than [...]
19 June 2011, 12:36 amBrochure Template:
I’ll try to use that Instagram, and perhaps I would also be addicted to it. I guess the number of users will still increase.
23 June 2011, 4:50 amThe COOL yet {not so} new kid on the block: Instagram ! « The Lost Dot:
[...] the API, many third party clients started embedding Instagram in its application. More than 2,500 applications have instagram in it most famous are Webstagram, Flipboard and [...]
1 September 2011, 8:18 pmDaily Digest for September 14th - Serendipity:
[...] Instagram – 5 million users, 5 reasons behind its growing success | Social media agency | Fres… [...]
15 September 2011, 1:57 pmMandyK:
Instagram is an awesome way to quickly and uniquely documents everyday moments that may otherwise pass you by. horray!
21 September 2011, 2:32 pmforum:
Well, my first rating goes to to simplicity of use for sharing it.
I certainly feel that adding up of other devices, apart from iPhone, will be helpful but on the other hand the difference may not be too large for them as a business because how mant people, who carry blackberry, would be spending a lot of time in using it for pictures and sharing those.
Overall they are doing a good job!
30 November 2011, 11:20 pm