Before I get to my specific opinion, let me voice my opinion of the two companies as separate entities. Facebook, by itself is a fine service for the average Joe. I personally don’t use Facebook because I think it’s a waste of my time. Instagram is similar to Facebook, and it pretty much invented the sharing photos game in the mobile space. They are also popular for their over-the-top styling of photos that makes anyone think they have talent.
So in summary, both services are fine but not for me. Clearly Facebook is lacking in the mobile department and Instagram is meant for mobile with no desktop penetration. Sounds like a good fit to me? Facebook’s mobile app might turn into something pretty awesome after this. Instagram are going to have a lot more users in their grasp and probably have a vision where they want to take the company. Being acquired by Facebook was an offer they could not refuse and it’s shocking to see some of these comments:
BTW, I never used Instagram. I could tell where they were headed.
— Dave Winer ☮ (@davewiner) April 9, 2012
How to delete your Instagram account while saving your photos cnet.co/HvdFHm — CNET (@CNET) April 9, 2012
Here are five alternatives to the now Facebook-owned Instagram wp.me/p1re2-1JFP — VentureBeat (@VentureBeat) April 9, 2012
And finally:
Is anyone actually happy that Instagram got acquired by Facebook? If so, tell me why.
— Cesar Torres (@Urraca) April 9, 2012
One of my personal favorites is a story entitled: “Apple should have acquired Instagram” saying:
I would more likely wanted Apple to acquire Instagram. Apple actually needed Instagram much more than Facebook and Google. With a few Apple’s failed attempts to go social(remember Ping), that could actually worked. Instagram has 29M iPhone users. Most of them are very engaged with the application. The combination of Photo Stream + Instagram could be super powerful. I can see myself using it(a lot). Also, by purchasing Instagram Apple could have keept it iOS-only. That would be much appreciated by current iPhone users and for some people might be a reason to switch to iPhone.
Yes, that’s just what we need. Apple to acquire Instagram, convert it to a pay only app. Charge $2.99 for the iPhone version and $9.99 for the iPad enhanced version. Perhaps throw in a subscription in there someplace for cloud syncing. Not to mention keep it iOS only because that sounds pretty exclusive and cool.
My brain might explode. . .