Difference between revisions of "Instagram"

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==== Blur ====
 
==== Blur ====
 
On top of filters, users can add either a circular blur border or parallel blurs, both of which are size adjustable.
 
On top of filters, users can add either a circular blur border or parallel blurs, both of which are size adjustable.
 
===Users===
 
 
  
 
== Ethical Concerns ==
 
== Ethical Concerns ==
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=== Professional Photographers ===
 
=== Professional Photographers ===
 +
Many professional photographers believe the art of photography lies in the editing not just capturing the picture. Some even feel that apps like Instagram are debasing genuine photography because simply adding a filter on top of a photograph just degrade the integrity of the original picture. [8] Others believe that Instagram simply makes all photos look the same because it offers no alteration beyond the offered filters. Rather than encouraging creativity, they feel it thwarts the artistic ability. [9]
  
=== Social Impact ===
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=== Nudity ===
  
 +
In the Terms of Use section on Instagram it explicitly prohibits the posting of nude, partially nude, or sexually suggestive photos. [10]
  
 
== References ==
 
== References ==
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5. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19258608<br />
 
5. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19258608<br />
 
6. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/04/09/facebook-buys-instagram-for-1-billion/<br />
 
6. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/04/09/facebook-buys-instagram-for-1-billion/<br />
7. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/04/a-guide-to-the-instagram-filters-youll-soon-be-seeing-on-facebook/255650/
+
7. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/04/a-guide-to-the-instagram-filters-youll-soon-be-seeing-on-facebook/255650/<br />
 +
8. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jul/19/instagram-debasing-real-photography?INTCMP=SRCH<br />
 +
9. http://www.quora.com/Instagram/Why-do-real-photographers-hate-Instagram-so-much<br />
 +
10. http://instagram.com/about/legal/terms/ <br />

Revision as of 23:44, 24 October 2012

Instagram is a free social networking application solely based on photo sharing. It allows users to take pictures, apply a filter and blur features, then share it with all connected users on Instagram as well as other social networks. Instagram confines the photos to square shapes reminiscent of Kodak and Polaroid images compared to the normal more rectangular shape of mobile device cameras. Originally, Instagram was only supported by the iPhone, iPod, and iPad accessed through the iTunes App Store. However, in 2012 Instagram added support for the Android Camera phones running 2.2 or higher through Google Play. After rocketing 30 million iOS users, it won Apple's app of the year in 2011. Currently the app has over 50 million registered users. In April of 2012 Facebook made an offer to purchase Instagram for around $1 billion in cash and stock with the deal finally closing on September 5th, 2012.

History

Creation

Instagram development began in San Francisco in early 2010 when Kevin Systrom, CEO and co-founder, left his job in marketing at NextStop to pursue his side project Burbn. He had been working on programming a prototype in basic HTML5 in his off time, trying to combine elements of FourSquare and Mafia Wars. Mike Krieger was a former classmate of Systrom’s and thought the project had potential so he joined on with Systrom in early 2010. Together, the pair raised $500k from investors Andreessen Horowitz and Baseline Ventures by March 5, 2010. After full completion, the iPhone app Burbn felt too cluttered with features. The app included checking into locations, posting pictures, making plans, and earning points for hanging out with friends. Krieger and Systrom then decided to focus just on the photo sharing aspect. Within eight weeks of switching tracks, Instagram was completed and ready to be shipped. By the end of March 2010, Instagram had been completed and launched.

In January of 2011, hashtags were added to the features of Instagram. When version 2.0 came out later that year in the App Store, it included photo filters, instant tilt shift, high resolution photos, optional borders, one click rotation and an updated icon. Finally, on April 3, 2012, Instagram released the app for Android mobile devices and was downloaded more than one million times in less than a day. However, there are no future plans to release the app for BlackBerry devices.

Facebook Acquisition

In its largest acquisition yet, Facebook made an offer of about $1 billion in cash and stock to purchase Instagram (with all 13 employees) in April 2012, a month before Facebook was going public. The plans intended to keep the company independently managed as many were concerned their photo sharing capabilities on Instagram would be thwarted by Facebook. The Office of Fair Trading approved of the deal on August 14, 2012, and on August 22, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission in the United States closed its investigation. From there the deal proceeded and on September 6, 2012, the deal between Instagram and Facebook officially closed. Instagram is now currently operating under the ownership of Facebook.


Use

After the application is downloaded, an icon appears on the home screen of that device through which the application can be accessed. From there, a user must register creating a free account with a username and password and optionally add an email or phone number. The user can also add a photograph, which will appear on the user's profile along with posted photos and the user's username. Once an account has been registered, a user has the option to find friends through Facebook or simply searching. Instagram also provides a list of recommended users to follow. Once a user follows other users, photos posted to the application will appear in a stream on the home page. A user can like or comment on those photos, which will send a notification to those users as well as appear with that photo on all other users' homepages as well. Along the bottom of the screen are five navigation icons, the first is the home page. The second is a forever changing page that represents the "Popular Page" which is a collection of photos with the most likes in a given moment and also provides a search bar to look for other users. The middle is a camera icon where users can go in a post their own photos. The third is the notification page, which consists of two tabs: the first a news feed of new followers, comments, and likes and the second is a "following" section that serves as a short news feed of other users activity. The last icon in the bottom right corner leads to the registered user's profile.

In the settings option, the user has the option to make their profile private. This entails all of that user's photos to be private unless other users to request to follow that user. Upon acceptance of that request, other users can see those private photos. Users can also turn on photo sharing to other social networks through their settings.

To post a picture, users click the bottom center camera icon where they can proceed to take a picture or use a previously taken photo. Once a user chooses a photo, filters can be added as well as a blur effect. Users can then add a caption, geo-tag, and post it for all of that user's followers to see.

Features

Hashtags

Users can use hashtags to tag photos and help other users discover photos. Instagram encourages users to use specific and relevant tags to help users find photos more easily.

Liking

Users can like photos by double tapping on it. With enough likes, a photo can make it to the popular page, which is broadcasted to every Instagram user and is incessantly changing.

Geotagging

Photos can be tagged at a certain location where other users can view all photos tagged at that same location.

Filters

Users have the ability to add different filters to their photos, which consist of different lighting, saturation, contrast and color effects:
Normal- No effect
Amaro- Light with minimal fading and emphasis on beige
Rise- Warm with an emphasis on yellow and light browns
Hudson- Warm and saturated with an emphasis on blues and yellows
X-Pro II- Warm and saturated with an emphasis on aquas and greens [7]
Sierra- Light with a slight blur and emphasis on beige
Earlybird- Sepia- like, faded with blurred colors and an emphasis on yellow and beige [7]
Lo-Fi- Dreamy with a slight blur and saturated yellows and greens[7]
Sutro- Sepia effect with an emphasis on purple and brown
Toaster- High exposure with vignette corners and an emphasis on red
Brannan- Low-key with an emphasis on grays and greens
Valencia- High contrast with a slightly brown and gray overtone
Inkwell- Black and white feature
Walden- Washed out color with slight blue overtone
Hefe- Fuzzy with an emphasis on golden tones
Nashville- Sharpens the image with a magenta-purple tint and framed with a film strip border
1977- 70's style flair
Kelvin- Very saturated, retro photos with a distinctive scratchy border

Blur

On top of filters, users can add either a circular blur border or parallel blurs, both of which are size adjustable.

Ethical Concerns

Privacy

Instagram has a privacy setting that enables photo sharing to accepted users and disables all others from viewing. In order for one user to see private users photos, this said user must send a follower request and can only see those photos once this user is accepted. However, if a user is on private, those photos are still available to the public when a makes it to the popular page, or they are geotagged to a certain location. Also, when one user likes a photo, that photo is broadcasted via the following page to all of that users’ followers. Although there is a private setting, there are loopholes to private photos.

Professional Photographers

Many professional photographers believe the art of photography lies in the editing not just capturing the picture. Some even feel that apps like Instagram are debasing genuine photography because simply adding a filter on top of a photograph just degrade the integrity of the original picture. [8] Others believe that Instagram simply makes all photos look the same because it offers no alteration beyond the offered filters. Rather than encouraging creativity, they feel it thwarts the artistic ability. [9]

Nudity

In the Terms of Use section on Instagram it explicitly prohibits the posting of nude, partially nude, or sexually suggestive photos. [10]

References

1. http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2012/04/09/facebook-buys-instagram-for-1-billion-wheres-the-revenue/
2. http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/03/instagram-android-download-now-available/
3. http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/05/burbn-funding/
4. http://www.quora.com/Instagram/What-is-the-genesis-of-Instagram
5. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19258608
6. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/04/09/facebook-buys-instagram-for-1-billion/
7. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/04/a-guide-to-the-instagram-filters-youll-soon-be-seeing-on-facebook/255650/
8. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jul/19/instagram-debasing-real-photography?INTCMP=SRCH
9. http://www.quora.com/Instagram/Why-do-real-photographers-hate-Instagram-so-much
10. http://instagram.com/about/legal/terms/