Okay, it’s safe to say I am obsessed with this app and the awesome community that has grown around it. Instagram has surgically dissected my complete and undying love for the one and only flickr, a service I’ve used for years and have paid for.
One of the reasons Instagram is so successful is because it’s not just a photo-sharing service. It’s a social, mobile, storytelling tool.
Instagram’s great success is in large part due to its stripped down super-simplicity (and that’s a big part of why I love it.)
You see something, you whip out your iPhone, you take a picture, add a filter if you wish, then you send it directly to Instagram (and other popular sites like fb, twitter, flickr)… the whole process is over in seconds. It’s sharing at the speed of thought and a speed you won’t find anywhere else (most of the time.)
The ability to send a picture so quickly and seamlessly is INCREDIBLY powerful, since we are primarily visual creatures. We think in pictures, not text and messages. Our brains function by “imagining” and then “visualizing” things.
Now at first I admit I didn’t understand Instagram, I thought… “I already use flickr”, then I created an account and started using it. The more I use it, the more it’s clear, Instagram is the social platform for photographers. There are already a ridiculous amount of super talented folks in the community, that can speak to this.
The key features that have won me over:
- UI of the App
- Speed
- Filters
- Sharing options
- Location ability
- Community
(ok that last one is not a “feature”, but it is an element of/for it’s success and one I love)
Being able to show images is soooo central to storytelling and communication. Words are a long hand way to do this, and until photo sharing technology existed, the necessary way. I’m not suggesting that Instagram (or similar services) replace writing. I’m simply trying to express the super-significance and importance of being able to make and share images seamlessly, quickly, wherever and whenever you want – and how simply – Instagram – makes that happen. Anyways that was my 2 cents If you’d like to connect on Instagram my username is: ‘definitiveturbo’
P.S. Someone will buy these guys.