The 21st century has been full of innovations. Facebook made its debut on 2004, which revolutionized the way we interact with our friends. Then came Twitter, which helped people to connect with famous celebrities by following their “tweets.” But recently, in 2012, another innovation hit the United States hard. But its medium was not the Internet; it was on the iPod. The application is called Instagram, a free photo sharing program. The program was first invented in 2010, and it slowly attracted iPod users from all different age groups. Meet the founders of the program: Kevin Systrom and Michel Krieger.
The first attempt at creating Instagram took place in San Francisco when the duo focused on working on their project called Burbn. Burbn, although it has not been released on the App Store, bore the same idea as Instagram: to conveniently share photos with your friends and attract followers at the same time.
The program launched on Apple’s App Store on Oct. 6, 2010. Not many people knew about it when it first came out. Only one person, Josh Riedel, joined the company as the community manager. But the Instagram creators did not bog down to the unpopularity. After a year, more people stared knowing about Instagram and were instantly attracted by the convenience of the gadget. Instagram fosters a stylistic photography where the pictures are confined in a quadrilateral shape while maintaining a 4:3 ratio. The photo resembles Polaroid images, emanating a bucolic aura. Instagram-users instantly became a fan of the application.
Not only is the photography unique, Instagram is also known for its convenience. After the user takes a picture using Instagram, they can share their photos on various social networking sites, including Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace.
Because the application received mainstream attention, Instagram expanded to other mediums, most notably Android camera phones. As of April 2012, over 30 million people use Instagram, and 5 million people are creating new accounts every week, according to Chris Taylor from Mashable. Noticing the popular trend, Facebook acquired Instagram for approximately $1 billion. In less than two years, Instagram was sold to one of the fastest-growing sites on Internet.
A remarkable achievement about this entrepreneurship is that there are only thirteen people employed in Instagram, including founders Kevin Systrom and Michel Krieger. Although the employment is low, the company continues to revise Instagram for the better, expanding on the iPod and the Android alike.
Andrew Kim
I am currently a senior at Kamiak High School, located in Mukilteo, Washington. I love jazz, especially jazz piano. I also like writing, and hope to participate in newspaper club when I attend college. Thank you for reading this blurb about me.
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