Story by Bailey Braatz
Facebook recently bought Instagram for $1 billion dollars, showing how valuable this app has become. But somehow only half of BHS students know Instagram is even though the app is gaining popularity rapidly.
In October 2010, Instagram was launched into Apple’s App Store. The application allows users to make an account on their mobile devices, and lets them upload pictures. Users can edit photos with the app’s photo filters. The photos are cropped into a square shape, like a Kodak Polaroid image: this is Instagram’s signature edit. You also have the option to directly upload the images to other social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
“Instagram is a really quick and easy way to edit my pictures,” said Senior Shanlee Braun. “I like having an app at my fingertips. It’s convenient.”
Many people see Instagram as “just another social networking site,” as opposed to others who see it as an artistic outlet. People compare the app to Pinterest and Tumblr, but there are many differences between them: unlike Pinterest and Tumblr, Instagram is restricted to only being an app, and the pictures can only be accessed over the internet if they have been shared to other websites.
Facebook is not only a site that you can upload your Instagram images to; in April 2012, Facebook became the parent site of Instagram. Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, bought the mobile company and its’ 13 employees for around $1 billion in cash and stock.
“I do not have an Instagram simply because I don’t have a smart phone,” said Junior Maddie Loomis, “I wish I could have one though. It seems pretty cool.”
The future for this app’s popularity is looking bright, and subscriptions should continue increasing. At BHS, about 16% of students have an Instagram account, but there are over 30 million users in the world. With these growing statistics, there is no doubt that the company will continue to expand.
