Besides being the social media world's new $1-billion baby, Facebook's purchase of Instagram is a harbinger of the future. Instagram made history when the 17-month-old, zero-revenue startup photo application for Apple and Android devices was purchased by the social media giant. More than money, this points to the future of business. When the biggest players are Google and Apple, what matters most? Content, of course.
Content is King
Instagram allows mobile users to take photos, apply filters and share them via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr. The free app has 50 million users and adds 5 million new mobile photographers every week. Great content is now the big attraction for everyone, and it's what makes the web go round. It's becoming clearer by the day that being a successful marketer means pushing out great content. Brands rely on it. Analytics rely on it.
Correction, Content and Technology are King
What's becoming increasingly clear is that content and the form it takes are becoming increasingly reliant on one another. With Instagram, you can't have one without the other. Instagram was created to solve the problem of the mediocre photographs that mobile phones take. Their solution is filters that transform mediocre to marvelous. What's more important: Content generated by a person, or the technological tools that make the content? It's a chicken-and-egg question that at least Facebook has an answer to.
Is Facebook Trying to Become a Mac?
Yes, most definitely. Facebook is facing stiff competition in the social media arena from sites like Pinterest and LinkedIn, so it needs to evolve its business in order to survive. Facebook is betting that Instagram will spawn an entirely new social art form, audience and revenue stream. Social art is an interesting concept, because it's brandable. In essence, it's Facebook putting a stamp on your creativity, similar to how a Mac does with its built-in creative tools. Publish or perish, as the literary saying goes, must be the ultimate mantra for all social media sites.
Branding
So what does the future hold for Instagram? For one thing, an instantly recognizable brand that has become an overnight household name. Will we be talking about how we Instagram our friends in the same way that we talk about Facebooking people? Perhaps, but even more significant, is the possibility that Instagram may outlive Facebook. In an era where information has value, the currency has become content itself.
Topics: Social Media, Instagram, Facebook
