Instagram announced yesterday that the photo sharing network now boasts over 12 million users with over 100,000 weekly downloads in China alone. Though the free mobile app may only be available on iOS for Apple devices, the Instagram app is still downloaded once per second across the globe.
Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom explains at an interview in Beijing yesterday that Instagram started as an "exploration of what we can do with a mobile phone."
The public release of Instagram in October 2010 welcomed 25,000 initial users. And in a month Instagram announced one million registered users. (You do the math.)
Like discovering a hidden treasure, there was an obvious gem in mobile photo sharing that no one had tapped before. The mobile application was developed tackling three important concerns:
- "My mobile photos look lame."
- "It's a pain to share to all the friends I care about."
- "Photos take forever to upload, and viewing them is slow."
Eleven photo filters, easy navigation and a developed social networking service later, Instagram was born. Today Instagram 2.0 offers 16 photo filters, high-res photos, tilt shift, rotation and optional borders in ten available languages.
Systrom explains that between the massive success in China and Japan, their largest markets are currently in Asia.
Instagram owes their success to the minimalism and simplicity accompanied with joining their network. With mobile devices and smartphones coming standard with high megapixel cameras, a way to beautify your photos with one touch is genius.
"It's about design and keeping things simple and being agile," added Systrom at TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing.
Developing software compatible on iOS was also strategic; the iPhone and Apple network is basically taking over the world and growing every day.
Like Tumblr, Instagram is image and photo based and vastly amassing community with their free service. And similar to Tumblr, businesses, brands and companies are joining to connect and engage consumers.
Are you following your favorite brands or media outlets on Instagram? Here is a list of Instagram accounts you probably had no idea even existed:
General Electric, Starbucks and ASOS are a few other industry brands that have joined Instagram.
Currently rated five stars, Instagram continues to offer their mobile app for free on the Apple App Store. An Android app is in the works.
Are you on Instagram?