Instagram is an application that we have come to expect to use each time we are using our phones. It was founded in 2010 and Instagram has seamlessly integrated into our daily lives in less than 10 years. Instagram is now popular not just from a consumer standpoint, but also in the world of digital marketing with one billion active users per month at present. How did this happen? What’s the history behind Instagram? Find out what happened to it:
Conceptualisation — Humble Beginnings
The app’s growth was evident in 2010. Instagram was founded in 2010 as Burbn created by Kevin Systrom, an app to connect people across the globe, promoting every person’s check-ins when they went to a new location. Within two weeks of discussions with venture companies, Systrom earned $500,000 in investment. After that Systrom began looking for a partner and finally came across Mike Krieger.
In the following years, Burbn underwent a drastic revision. Krieger and Systrom realized that their idea was not as similar to an existing mobile application, Foursquare. They also discovered a significant trend: the use of images to communicate was increasing. Users on Burbn “were publishing and sharing pictures in a flurry”. This led to them redeveloping the concept into what we now call Instagram now.
(Did You know? “Instagram” got its name from a mix from “instant camera” and “telegram”!)
Launch — Target at the Moon
On October 6, 2010 Instagram was officially launched. The buzz immediately increased; Instagram gained 1 million users in only three months. It was followed by two million users in just six weeks after the achievement. To put it in perspective the timeline, Facebook took Facebook about 10 months before it reached one million users, Twitter 24 months while Tumblr for 27 months.
The original Version of Instagram was simple. You could post photos and comments, like, or comment as well as follow users. In September of 2011, Instagram introduced a new icon for its app that offered a variety options for camera setting and options within the app like one-touch rotating and other camera effects. With the constant improvements of the iPhone cameras, photography on phones was becoming more popular; this, that in turn, helped Instagram’s rise to the limelight.
The month of April may have brought the most important change: Instagram was brought to the Android operating system. This opened the door to an entirely new market that led to Instagram’s next milestone in the same time: reaching 50 million people using the app. By this milestone, Instagram proved it was there to stay.
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Acquisition — A Tilting Point
In the same year it was announced that the Facebook acquisition of Instagram announcement spread like wildfire and spread like wildfire. Facebook has now officially purchased Instagram with a value of 1 billion dollars. It was unimaginable to purchase an organization with only 13 employees for this amount. Many speculated that Facebook bought Instagram because of its the fear of competition, since their user base almost corresponded. Others, based on recent leaks from anonymous sources, speculated that Facebook purchased Instagram to compete with other competitors, including Twitter and Google who were looking to purchase the new appealing, beautiful photo-sharing platform. Facebook has not stepped in to challenge or verify this assertion.
Whatever the reason the reasons Facebook bought Instagram it was amply supported by Facebook’s constant efforts to expand its features over the past few years. In June of 2013, Instagram no longer was an image-centric platform. It added video-sharing capabilities, through which users are able to upload and share videos. Then, in December of 2013, Instagram introduced Instagram Direct which is a private messaging feature also known as “DMs” currently. In November of 2016, Instagram brought to life Instagram Live, which essentially are live streams on which users can broadcast their music, events or just live announcements to the followers they follow in real time. With each new feature Instagram offered an array of opportunities for businesses to expand their reach and improve their marketing.
Assistance — Helping Businesses
Instagram recognized its strengths as a tool to promote marketing and has seen its rise in popularity with all different age groups that range starting from Gen X to Gen Z. Since Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram up to the present it has a variety of tools to help companies to flourish.
Sponsored Posts as technology became common in our life, Instagram introduced Sponsored Posts in November 2013 in which users could promote their most popular content to their users’ feeds. This was the beginning of Instagram’s new branding as an advertising-focused platform.
Businesses Analytics “Insights”: In August 2014, Instagram allowed business accounts to see “Insights” where they can monitor their weekly performance, ranging from their Accounts Reached, to the number of interactions.
Advertising Features: While it began to blossom in 2013 as an appealing chance for companies to connect with new customers, Instagram only completely fleshed out its possibilities in the year 2015. Businesses are now able create ads in Instagram Stories, use Facebook Pixel to track their customers’ interests, assess how well their advertisements have been performing, and connect via Facebook Ads Manager for multi-platform marketing.
Shop: Alongside other major updates, 2020 saw an astronomical growth in the various features of Instagram. One notable addition, which is located just to the right of “Post” button is Shop. Businesses can now display their prices and products directly on the app and let customers browse their feeds which mimics an online store.
Competition — Keeping in with the generation of Millennials and Gen Z
Recent years have seen other social media platforms have increased their penetration into our daily lives like Snapchat and its revolutionary communication system, and TikTok to cater to our short attention period. To keep its most loyal users, Instagram has attempted to develop similar features with its competitors.
Instagram Stories: The Battle Against Snapchat: Instagram Stories
The success of Snapchat is due to its unique way of communicating which allows you to swipe left on a friend and snap a photo instantly to them. The length of time the image is displayed can be altered from one up to 10 seconds. In addition, Snapchat allows users to create videos and photos on the site’s “My Story” and they can show it to their followers and friends for a period of 24 hours.
To beat this feature, Instagram announced the beloved Instagram Story feature, which continues to be widely used. Like Snapchat Stories, Instagram Stories lets users upload photos and videos for 24 hours and show them to their followers.
The result? Instagram Stories, though developed following Snapchat’s, had 250 million active daily users while Snapchat was able to maintain its number of users, which stood at 166 million as of the year 2018.
In a quantitative perspective, Instagram undoubtedly wins out when it comes to regular customers. Both platforms have advantages and distinctions in marketing your business , as and appealing to different customers. So, it’s wrong to conclude that Snapchat doesn’t have any potential advertising opportunities, but in recent times, a variety of speculations and theories are suggesting that Snapchat is slowly losing its appeal.
The War Against Tiktok: Instagram Reels
In the brief time since it’s been in existence, TikTok has experienced rapid expansion in its popularity, growing to 300 million in the month of January, 2019 to over 800 million by the end of January 2020. The main reason for this is the ability editing and uploading of small videos. It also has a fresh algorithm that is based on content and community-building feature “Duet”.
In response to the rising popularity of TikTok, Instagram rolled out its own features: Instagram Reels and Instagram Remix. Instagram Reels have the same function as TikTok videos, a quick-form video feature. Meanwhile, Instagram Remix is an exact match to the TikTok Duet function, which allows users to create videos alongside someone else’s Reel. While it’s still too early to know if Instagram Reels & Remix will be treated with the same fervor like Instagram Stories, one thing to know is the fact that different platforms are likely to be able to catch up creating a huge rivalry to catch the young generation’s focus.
Conclusion
The initial idea was to be an image-sharing service, Instagram has emerged as an effective marketing tool for companies as well as an integral component of our regular social media use. It’s clear of the fact that Instagram is likely to develop in the near future, and will remain present to us for a lengthy time. If you’re not already look into the rest of our blog to see the ways you can make use of social media along with other platforms to improve the marketing of your business!