Why I love Instagram

It's rare that I get really, really excited about a new social network, but that's happening to me with Instagram. My friend Ann Handley introduced me to it last month and I am loving it.

Since there are already ten million Instagram users, I'm certainly not an early adopter, so forgive me if you're already an Instagram pro.

Instagram is a photo sharing iPhone application that makes it easy and fun to manipulate a photo with various filters and turn it into instant art. Then with a few clicks, you can share your photo with a caption via Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks.

Here's what my photo Sunset over Florida and the wing of a 757 looks like on the Instagram site. Here it is on Twitter. And on Facebook. It took about a minute to snap, filter, and update my social sites.

I love that Instagram makes it so easy to create content. In my travels, one of the first things people push back on is how much time they think it takes to create content and publish it on the Web. Instagram is easy. It takes a minute or two. Others say they cannot write so they are hopeless on social sites. Well with Instagram, you aren’t writing (except maybe a caption) so even word-challenged people can create awesome content.

Check out the Instagram blog post on the recent NYC Marathon to see how they showcase some user photos. It's fascinating to see the different ways people have captured the event.

There are tens of thousands of social networks out there. Many are copycats of existing networks or add just a tiny incremental feature to another network. They don't succeed.

True new ideas as social networks are rare – I can count on one hand the social networks that I felt that "wow" factor that I had found a new way to create and share content. YouTube makes video sharing easy. Twitter is for sharing short messages. Facebook for connecting with friends, Foursquare on my whereabouts, and now Instagram for photos.

Instagram is cool because it allows content sharing but with a twist. It is photography turned into instant art and it is addictive (at least for me).

When I have a few minutes of downtime, I like to pull out my iPhone and scroll through the photos of the people I follow on Instagram. It is like a stroll through an art gallery.

It was really cool that as soon as I jumped on Instagram a few weeks ago, some of my friends found me and started following. It was so quick. I am now connected to people in a new way.

Are you an Instagram user?

Comments

[Gavin Llewellyn]

Great post, David. But did you get the idea from a post I wrote a few weeks ago? ;) http://www.onetoomanymornings.co.uk/why-im-falling-in-love-with-instagram/

I'm really pleased to see another Instagram convert evangelising about this simple, fun and creative social network. I really enjoy using Instagram for all the reasons you've mentioned plus the fact that it makes my usually ordinary pictures look like masterpieces!

You're absolutely right to point out that so many new social platforms are simply copy-cats of others so it's great that such an innovative new network has emerged. I hope it soon rolls out across other operating systems so that even more people can join in and take part.

[twitter.com/fairminder]

You nailed it.

I have recently taken up photography again, only through my iPhone 4. Instagram is great to share the images and it is fun to see the "likes" and comments.

I just wish there was a web gallery to point people to to view the images and to see other people's images.

[David Meerman Scott]

Gavin, Looks like we think alike!

fairminder - I'll bet there are third party gallery apps.

[Zac Brousseau]

If you have a Flickr account, sharing your Instagram apps on Flickr creates a pretty nice online gallery of your images. Plus you can add your photos to Flickr groups, create sets, etc.

[Simonlazenby]

I love that anyone can be creative... a moment special or significant to them is captured & shared. A 5 star connectivity app!

[MShahab]

Aside from not having an Android app yet, my biggest gripe with Instagram is their lack of metrics. Many of their competitors like PicPlz tell you how many times your photo has been viewed...which is a meaningful number. Even twitpics tell you view count.

[David Meerman Scott]

Zac - good to know!

Simonlazenby - Exactly. Anyone can create.

MShahab - I hear you on metrics, but I think metrics and creativity are like fire & water. Sometimes it is nice to do something because you want to not because there is some positive ROI calculation.

[Keepsy]

Welcome to the Instagram community! You'll find it's more and more addicting the longer you use it. :-)

[Emily Wienberg]

Great post, David! As an Android user, I have been quite jealous of iPhone users who have been able to use this great application. Did you see what Instagram did in London? There was an exhibit of photos from participants. Here's an article about it!

http://mashable.com/2011/09/23/london-gallery-instagram-exhibit/

[web filter]

Great post, David! As an Android user, I have been quite jealous of iPhone users who have been able to use this great application. Did you see what Instagram did in London? There was an exhibit of photos from participants. Here's an article about it!

[keylogger Mac]

I'm really pleased to see another Instagram convert evangelising about this simple, fun and creative social network. I really enjoy using Instagram for all the reasons you've mentioned plus the fact that it makes my usually ordinary pictures look like masterpieces!

[Colin Warwick]

The Android version is now available: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instagram.android

[A Facebook User]

Why I think people love Instagram ! Some reflexions about the reasons why here (french/english) : http://marielaforge.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/instagram-nostalgeek-nostalgeek-instagram/
What do you think about it, do you agree ?