Well I don’t like to gloat, but we saw it coming. It appears our friendly international social media giant is continuing it’s march towards full social media integration through the purchase of “Instagram”.
For those of you who aren’t already part of Instagram revolution, it is essentially a photo sharing site, that uses old school “Lomo” style effects to essentially make what are pretty average looking pictures look retro cool. And I have to admit it’s one of my favorites. It’s a simple ap that you install on your phone, that transforms your mobile snapper into an filtered filled social extravaganza. Obviously it is already linked with Facebook, as all self respecting social media has to be these days, but it seems the recent purchase by Zuckerberg and co means it is set for even more assimilation.
However the main thing that seems to be catching everyone’s eye about this deal is not the potential improvements to our online lives, but the huge price-tag!! Instagram was bought for a whopping 1 billion dollars (that’s a US billion though – not a proper UK one). For a site with 30 Million users, that represents a huge cost per member, but given the site has doubled in size in the last year, perhaps this price-tag is less surprising.
Pretty impressive for a company with only 13 employees. Hopefully this will mean a few less aps and a bit more functionality from a singular site, but who knows.
We wish them all the best of luck, and hope the directors are enjoying their millions. It’s a fantastic sign of what you can do in the modern age with a good idea and clever execution. Who knows if the next one might come out of our web design london offices… Watch this space!
