Instagram

One Year After Facebook Acquisition, Instagram Delivers on Its Promise

A year ago this week, Facebook surprised the world by announcing an agreement to acquire Instagram for a whopping $1 billion one month shy of its initial offering on the stock market. At the time, Instagram was a comparatively small but beloved mobile app for editing and sharing photos with no discernible revenue model. Facebook investors were worried it wouldn't contribute to Facebook's bottom line; Instagram users were worried the service they'd come to know and love would be absorbed into Facebook.

In a note posted to Instagram's blog shortly after the deal was announced, Facebook co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom pledged that Instagram would remain essentially the same, and that under new owners, would continue to improve and evolve. He wrote:

"It’s important to be clear that Instagram is not going away. We’ll be working with Facebook to evolve Instagram and build the network. We’ll continue to add new features to the product and find new ways to create a better mobile photos experience.

The Instagram app will still be the same one you know and love. You’ll still have all the same people you follow and that follow you.You’ll still be able to share to other social networks. And you’ll still have all the other features that make the app so fun and unique."

A year later, Systrom has delivered on that promise. Working from Facebook's offices, Instagram continued to roll out new features over the past year, introducing a feed and profiles for the web, photo maps and a tool called Lux for balancing exposure and adjusting brightness. It also rolled out new filters (Mayfair, Willow and Sierra), an improved camera and tilt shift, and translations for 25 languages. Its following quadrupled to more than 100 million monthly active users, thanks in part to Instagram's expansion to Android just days before Facebook agreed to acquire it.

There's a question, however, as to how long Instagram can remain as independent from Facebook at it is. So far, there's been no suggestion that Instagram will replace or be further rolled into Facebook's current photos offerings, nor has Facebook intruded into the Instagram network, but it's hard to imagine further integration won't happen. There will also be the need to monetize Instagram at some point — and as we've seen, the new web version of Instagram leaves plenty of room for ads."It’s important to be clear that Instagram is not going away. We’ll be working with Facebook to evolve Instagram and build the network. We’ll continue to add new features to the product and find new ways to create a better mobile photos experience.

In a note posted to Instagram's blog shortly after the deal was announced, Facebook co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom pledged that Instagram would remain essentially the same, and that under new owners, would continue to improve and evolve. He wrote:

The Instagram app will still be the same one you know and love. You’ll still have all the same people you follow and that follow you.You’ll still be able to share to other social networks. And you’ll still have all the other features that make the app so fun and unique."

A year later, Systrom has delivered on that promise. Working from Facebook's offices, Instagram continued to roll out new features over the past year, introducing a feed and profiles for the web, photo maps and a tool called Lux for balancing exposure and adjusting brightness. It also rolled out new filters (Mayfair, Willow and Sierra), an improved camera and tilt shift, and translations for 25 languages. Its following quadrupled to more than 100 million monthly active users, thanks in part to Instagram's expansion to Android just days before Facebook agreed to acquire it.

There's a question, however, as to how long Instagram can remain as independent from Facebook at it is. So far, there's been no suggestion that Instagram will replace or be further rolled into Facebook's current photos offerings, nor has Facebook intruded into the Instagram network, but it's hard to imagine further integration won't happen. There will also be the need to monetize Instagram at some point — and as we've seen, the new web version of Instagram leaves plenty of room for ads.