The first question is… “What is Instagram?”
Instagram was co-founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. During the early stage, in San Francisco, CA, began the development of Instagram. The name “Instagram” is a portmanteau of “Instant Camera” and “telegram”.
Instead of bored you with the *history* of Instagram, let’s talk about the Key Event on Instagram History:
- March 5, 2010: Systrom received $500,000 funding.
- December, 2010: Instagram has 1 million registered users.
- January 2011: Instagram added Hashtags to help users add photograph and added each other.
- June 2011: Instagram has 5 million users.
- July 2011: Instagram announced that there are 100 millions photos uploaded.
- April 2012: Instagram has 30 million users.
- April 3, 2012: Instagram was released for Android phones. It was downloaded more than 1,000,000 times in less than one day.
- April 12, 2012: Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion dollars in cash & stock options.
- December 17, 2012: Instagram updated its term of services, granting itself the right to sell users’ photos to third parties without notification and compensation. However, after criticism from National Geographic Society and privacy advocates, Instagram retracting the controversial terms.
- January 2013: It was confirmed that Instagram has asked for photo identification as a form of verification due to unspecified violations.
- March 2013: Emily White was appointed as the Chief Operating Officer for Instagram. Ms. White suggested that Instagram should start selling advertisement on its platform.
- October 22, 2013: During the Nokia world event, Systrom confirmed the impending release of Instagram app for Windows phone.
- December 12, 2013: Instagram added “Direct”. It is the feature that allows users to send photos to specific people directly from the app. HINT: Instagram Direct feature is to compete against messaging services including Snapchat.
- March 11, 2014: Instagram released an updated Android app with performance improvement and flatter interface. The primary update was to reduce the app’s file size and resource usage, and it was optimized for and tested on low-end smart phones sold in emerging markets.
- December 2014: Instagram has 300 million users.
The second question is… “Why Instagram?”
Let me show you an eye opening fact about Instagram and why it will be beneficial for your business.
Here is the latest data on Instagram: (We are confident that it will grow faster than our words)
| Fact About Instagram | |
| # of Total Users | 400,000,000 |
| Monthly Visitors to Instagram | 390,000,000 |
| Active Instagram Users | 255,000,000 |
| % of Instagram Users Outside US | 70% |
| Daily Active Instagram Users | 75,000,000 |
| Average Numbers of Followers Per Users | 843 |
| Average Follow/ Follower Ratio | 1:1.76 |
| % of World Leaders Use Twitter | 80% |
| # of Instagram User in the U.S. | 100,000,000 |
| # of photos uploaded daily | 80,000,000,000 |
| # of Likes Per Day | 1,400,000,000 |
If you are a savvy marketer especially when you value the important of having a list, Instagram has one of the biggest mailing list on the planet aside from Facebook and Twitter. It means that by tapping into Instagram network as part of growing your business, you are indirectly tapping to one of the biggest countries in the entire planet.
The question is NOT whether you should tap into it or not, but it is more into how you can attract massive traffic to your website. Well, as you progress through each step on this course, you will be able to see through what it takes to build your business around Twitter.
