Posts Tagged ‘instagram’

Instagram Isn’t Going to Sell Your Pictures

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

Ever since Facebook acquired Instagram in April, we’ve been waiting to hear what this means for Instagram’s users. Many assumed that advertisements would be involved in some way as a way to monetize the service, understandably so.

One of Facebook biggest weaknesses before and after it’s IPO was it’s inability to monetize mobile, which is where more and more people are doing their browsing.

Well, earlier this week Instagram updated its Terms of Use and Privacy Policy to reflect it’s acquisition by Facebook and outraged a lot of its users. The new Terms of Use and Privacy Policy are set to take effect on January 16.

But after users started boycotting Instagram and moving to alternatives such as the new Flickr app, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom spoke out.

There has been confusion over what the new policies mean, which has only worsened the situation. Instagram has clarified certain things in a blog post titled “Thank you, and we’re listening.”

They will be revising the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy to make their true intentions for the future of Instagram more clear. Since that may take time, I’m not sure if January 16 will remain the day the new policies take effect.

The part that people are most concerned about is the perceived possibility that Instagram was going to sell the pictures they’ve posted to Instagram:

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Mobile Monday – Is Facebook Strengthening Its Mobile Muscle?

Monday, August 27th, 2012

This post is part of the weekly ‘Mobile Monday‘ series on news, ideas, and strategies in the world of mobile devices.

For a while now, mobile has been Facebook’s biggest weakness. More than half of all active Facebook users access the social network from mobile devices, but their experiences couldn’t be compared to the desktop Facebook experience. Many components of the mobile apps were poor, and Facebook hadn’t truly figured out how to monetize mobile. But last week, Facebook’s mobile muscles may have gotten a little stronger.

Facebook’s Instagram Acquisition Cleared

First, the Federal Trade Commission finally cleared Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram on August 22. Facebook announced its plans to acquire Instagram back in April, at which time the FTC opened an antitrust investigation regarding the acquisition. As Facebook continues to try to monetize mobile, the big question of whether or not ads are coming to Instagram remains.

The hypothetical Instagram advertisements have the potential to be unlike most other mobile advertisements. Given the visual nature of the app, advertisements would need to be so as well to belong in the stream. Ads on Instagram have the potential to allow highly visual brands to showcase their products.

Picture an advertisement for a local bakery featuring a picture of a shelf full of delicious pastries with an appropriate Instagram filter and a caption describing the day’s specials. Such an advertisement wouldn’t scream “THIS IS AN AD!” but rather, would blend in to the stream, which probably has several other pictures of food. Instagram advertisements could possibly give visual brands with a presence on Instagram already the chance to promote their best photos.

Facebook’s New iOS App

Facebook’s mobile app for iOS devices had been criticized for its clunkiness – it was slow, it was unresponsive, and it frequently crashed. Part of the problem was that it relied on HTML5. But on Thursday, an update came to the Facebook iOS app that promised a better experience for mobile users.

The app is now written in iOS’s native codebase, Objective-C, which makes the app a lot faster. Because of this, you can now see real-time updates in your news feed, and you can see how many new stories you have and tap the alert to view them. Likes, comments, and notifications are also easier to view now. Overall, the app is much more responsive, and responds quickly and seamlessly.

Facebook’s secondary apps have also been integrated into the core Facebook iOS app. These secondary apps are the Facebook Messenger app and the Facebook Camera app. Both apps were seen as peculiar at their introductions; why not just bring them into the core app? Messages looked completely different in the Facebook iOS app and the Facebook Messenger app, and photos were a similar situation. Fortunately, the code for both of these apps have been brought into the main Facebook app. Lastly, Facebook Timeline has finally come to the iPad.

This improved app is the first step in Facebook’s goal to becoming a “mobile first” company and effectively monetizing the mobile experience. While no changes were made specifically in terms of mobile revenue, no such changes would have been effective without first improving the mobile experience. The improved Facebook app will surely have more iOS users spending more time in the app (using it, not waiting for it to respond).

What else do you think Facebook needs to do to fix its mobile problems?

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Weekly Wrap – Twitter Tuesday

Tuesday, July 31st, 2012

The Social Media Olympics

The 2012 Summer Olympics are finally underway, and social media is playing a big part in it. Whether that is a good thing or not can be debated. NBC is being continually criticized on social media for their coverage, most notably about their choice to tape delay events to show in prime time. In the age of social media, anyone on a computer can accidentally find out the results of an event before it has aired on NBC. For example, viewers were disappointed to see tweets about who appeared in the Opening Ceremony, ruining the surprise.

But athletes are also seeing the negative side of social media during the games. Multiple athletes have made headlines and gotten into hot water because of tweets. Two were even taken out of the games: Greek Olympian Voula Papachristou was banned from competing in the Olympics after posting a racial joke on Twitter last week, and Swiss soccer player Michel Morganella was banned after tweeting offensive remarks about South Korea after a loss to the country’s team.

The popularity of social media also makes it easier for viewers to talk to athletes, which can also have negative consequences. British diver Tom Daley received hateful tweets about his dead father after coming in fourth place. Tweets from the user continued and became more hateful, even threatening to drown Daley, and a 17-year-old has been arrested on suspicion of “malicious communication.”

“Cashtags” let you search for money talk on Twitter

Twitter has introduced a new symbol to join the ranks of the @reply and #hashtag: the $cashtag. A cashtag followed by a company’s stock symbol (for example, $FB or $GOOG) will turn into a clickable link to a search stream the same way a hashtag does. In the stream, you will be able to read tweets and conversations about a company’s finances and stocks. The announcement was made via a tweet Monday night.

While users seem welcoming to this new feature, not everyone is happy. The CEO of StockTwits claims that Twitter is ripping off one of his company’s innovations. In a blog post, StockTwits CEO Howard Lindzon claims that his company has been doing this for over four years. Not only that, but he states that as recently as a few months ago, Twitter told him via email that the company wasn’t interested in making its own cashtags.

Is Twitter beginning to cut out Instagram?

The days of finding friends from Twitter to follow on Instagram are over. Twitter has removed its follow graph data from the photo sharing app, although it seems some users who don’t have the latest update of the app may still be able to do so. This follows a similar move made earlier this month, when Twitter stopped partnering with LinkedIn to allow users to sync updates from the two sites. Twitter’s dropping of LinkedIn and Instagram could both be part of a larger plan, but there’s also talk that this could have something to do with Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram earlier this year.

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When a mobile-only strategy will work

Thursday, April 19th, 2012

Instagram has had quite the few weeks, from moving away from an iOS-only app by releasing a version for Android, to then being bought by Facebook. If there was any doubt before that Instagram was an example of a wildly successful mobile app, there definitely isn’t anymore. But what really got some talking is how the service became so successful with basically no website.

Without a doubt, this strategy cannot and will not work for all apps. But here are things that anyone with a mobile app should consider:

When and where will people want to use your app?

Instagram’s mobile-only strategy worked because people take pictures on the go. This is not as true for viewing photos, which was remedied with the sharing capabilities. By allowing sharing to social networks as well as assigning a URL to each photo that could be viewed on a computer, the photos had a reach beyond the app’s users alone. This is an excellent marketing strategy as well, because the photos stood out compared to “no filter” pictures that make up most of the shared photos on social networks.

However, some types of apps simply cannot be limited to mobile devices only. I believe productivity apps, in particular, need strong web companions. Apps such as the note-taking app Evernote are great for jotting things down on the go. But people using Evernote frequently use it for getting work done. How productive would it be if while doing work on your computer, you had to constantly refer to your phone?

How much simplicity can we get away with?

Instagram focuses on simplicity: a simple interface, and a simple process. You can upload a photo to Instagram, choose a filter, write a caption, and share it to other social networks in just a few seconds, given you’re not as indecisive as I am when it comes to choosing a filter.

But once again, this approach can fail. While simple interfaces can be beautiful, it is more important to guarantee that the user can easily do anything they would want to be able to do with your app. Never sacrifice aspects of the experience in exchange for a better-looking app.

How much information do users need about your app?

I’m not going to name names, but I hate when you need to download an app just to figure out what it actually does. While it’s one thing for your app’s features to be limited to mobile-only, it’s another to limit the information. Sure, you can find a blog post or review of almost any app, but people will still want more information. Nothing is worse than downloading an app that does not have a ‘Help’ or ‘FAQ’ web page, especially when you are looking for help about how to use the app. If a user doesn’t know how to use the app, how are they going to figure out how to get to the ‘Help’ area of the app? They might just delete it.

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Facebook Hopes to Gain Mobile Strength with Instagram

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

instagram

Instragram, an increasingly popular photo-sharing app, has surrendered it’s ownership to Facebook- allowing this social media giant to increase its mobile presence. The popularity of Instagram, a free service that sold for 1 billion dollars, involves the use of “filters” which are editing tools that transform photos into professional-looking snap shots. While Facebook has always been the largest photo sharing network, there are platforms like Instagram, Flickr and Pinterest which focus more on the storytelling and presentation aspects of photographs, sparking users’ artistic instincts. However, Facebook has always engaged more users because of its social component, allowing the most communication between friends and family. Integrating a popular mobile app that will combine artistic storytelling through photography with Facebook’s ever-present social network is smart move on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg’s part.

Facebook has struggled with mobile weakness and Instagram has proven how valuable the mobile experience can be. In less than two years Instagram signed up 30 million users (now reaching even more since its addition of the Android app). Instead of trying to compete with Instagram’s success, Facebook had the power to buy them and add to their social media monopoly. One change users should expect to see will involve mobile ads. Currently, Instagram doesn’t sell ads, but Facebook will be eager to utilize this audience and technology to facilitate their mobile ad campaigns. In Intagram’s platform of beautifully shared experiences and emotional visuals, advertisers can stray away from the crowded content platforms of Facebook and Twitter. As one blogger stated, “Would you rather run your ad next to an artfully sepia-toned photo of a cityscape or in the comparatively messy worlds of Facebook, Twitter or YouTube?”

Other anticipated changes involve better Instagram integration with Facebook Timeline and creating a stronger web presence for Instagram, because there is no official website for users to visit and manage photos. User’s may be worried about their cherished app being changed for the worse, but Zuckerberg stated on his Facebook page that the Instagram brand would be kept intact. This has been compared to when Google bought You Tube. It’s a strategic and defensive business move that will continue to increase the success of Instagram, Facebook’s mobile platform and photo sharing among social networks.

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Weekly Wrap – Twitter Tuesday

Tuesday, April 10th, 2012

Twitter opens office in Detroit

Detroit, Michigan is going through a “tech renaissance” and Twitter is the latest to join the scene, opening their office there last Wednesday. The office will be based in the M@dison Building, a historic building shared by several tech startups and will be led by Greg Myrick.

The “Motor City” office will serve marketers and ad agencies in the region, including the automotive companies that are the reason behind the city’s nickname. Automotive companies such as General Motors have already worked with Twitter on Promoted Products campaigns.

Twitter sues five spammers

We all hate spam, especially on social media. As social networks get more popular they become targets for spammers. Twitter is now taking action by suing five of the most aggressive tool providers and spammers. In a blog post, Twitter explains:

“By shutting down tool providers, we will prevent other spammers from having these services at their disposal. Further, we hope the suit acts as a deterrent to other spammers, demonstrating the strength of our commitment to keep them off Twitter.”

In addition to the lawsuit, the engineering team also launched new anti-spam measures, such as using Twitter’s link shortening service (t.co) to analyze whether tweeted links could contain malicious content. But we need to do our part too. There are people that avoid tweeting about certain topics that tend to attract lots of spam, such as hot new tech products. Instead of (or in addition to) this, when you see a spammy tweet make sure to report it.

Big week for Instagram leaves app dominating Trending Topics

Last Tuesday, Instagram for Android was released. As a result, Instagram was a trending topic for days. Also trending was #TeamAndroid as Android users celebrated iPhone users having one less “exclusive” app. This resulted in one of the frequent Android vs. iPhone debates on Twitter.

Then yesterday, Instagram was acquired by Facebook, prompting hilarious tweets about the acquisition (more here). Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram both became Trending Topics, with Instagram still being the 7th most popular Trending Topic in the U.S.

Beyonce finally tweets

Although the verified @beyonce Twitter account has existed since 2009, no tweets had ever been sent from the account…until last Thursday. As part of a complete redesign of her digital presence, Beyonce sent her first tweet to announce her redesigned website. She also launched a blog on Tumblr, titled ‘I Am.’

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How Social Media Changed Fashion Week

Thursday, September 15th, 2011

Social media has never been so fashionable!  It’s currently Fashion Week in New York City, and while in the past only the most important people in the industry got to see the action, social media makes it easy for anyone to keep up with Fashion Week.  Designers, media, audiences…they’re all changing up the experience by using social media such as Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram and more!

Twitter

Obviously, Twitter is abuzz with tweets from celebrities, audience members, and journalists at the shows.  The #nyfw hashtag and official account make it easy to follow the event.  The official account tweets important information and answers to questions, but also quotes from designers and retweets of media coverage.  If you look at the hashtag stream, you can catch anything from descriptions and opinions of new collections to which celebrities are sitting in the front row.

YouTube

More and more programs are being made available for streaming, and fashion shows are no exception. One article reports that over 30 shows, including Oscar de la Renta, Lacoste, and Betsey Johnson, are being shown live, and for the first time, can be viewed on mobile devices.  The official YouTube channel lists each day’s streaming schedule. Some shows were also streamed on sites such as style.com, Facebook, and websites of designers.

Tumblr

Blogging about Fashion Week, especially on Tumblr, has also become very popular.  There is the official channel, displaying posts by Tumblr fashion bloggers, as well as other coverage.  Oscar de la Renta is said to be one of the first luxury fashion brands to use the site, and the designer’s Tumblr has featured behind the scenes photos and videos, quotes, and posts tagged with #odlrlive.

Instagram

The iPhone app Instagram has become a staple for fashion photographers in general, and many photos you will see on the social media sites mentioned above were posted from Instagram.

There are countless other trends at Fashion Week (and we’re not even talking about the clothes!).  In your time on social media the past week, have you seen any unique Fashion Week coverage?

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