nstagram

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Instagram

Original author(s) Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger(Burbn, Inc.)

Developer(s) Facebook

Initial release October 6, 2010; 8 years ago

Stable release(s) [±]

81.0.0.15.91 / February 20, 2019; 2 days ago[1]
Android
iOS 80.0 / February 10, 2019; 12 days ago[2]
Windows 10 30.1569.12133.0 / April 14, 2018; 10 months ago[3]
Windows 10 Mobile 10.1096.22713.0 / September 14, 2017; 16 months ago

Preview release(s) [±]

80.0.0.0.5 alpha / January 29, 2019; 24 days ago[5]
Android (Alpha)
Android (Beta) 78.0.0.3.104 beta / January 24, 2019; 29 days ago[6]

Operating system iOS, Android, Windows 10

Mobile, Windows 10

Size ~158.5 MB (iOS), ~39.26 MB (Android)

Available in 36 languages (Android), 29 languages

(iOS) [7]

License Freeware

Alexa rank 16 (Global, February 2019)[8]

 Website www.instagram.com

Instagram (also known as IG or insta[9]) is a photo and video-sharing social networking

service owned by Facebook, Inc. It was created by Kevin Systromand Mike Krieger, and launched in
October 2010 exclusively on iOS. A version for Android devices was released a year and half later, in
April 2012, followed by a feature-limited website interface in November 2012, and apps for Windows
10 Mobile and Windows 10 in April 2016 and October 2016 respectively.
The app allows users to upload photos and videos to the service, which can be edited with
various filters, and organized with tags and location information. An account's posts can be shared
publicly or with pre-approved followers. Users can browse other users' content by tags and locations,
and view trending content. Users can "like" photos, and follow other users to add their content to
a feed.
The service was originally distinguished by only allowing content to be framed in a square
(1:1) aspect ratio, but these restrictions were eased in 2015. The service also
added messaging features, the ability to include multiple images or videos in a single post, as well
as "Stories"—similar to its main competitor Snapchat—which allows users to post photos and videos
to a sequential feed, with each post accessible by others for 24 hours each.
After its launch in 2010, Instagram rapidly gained popularity, with one million registered users in two
months, 10 million in a year, and 800 million as of September 2017. In April 2012, Facebook
acquired the service for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock. As of October 2015, over 40
billion photos had been uploaded to the service. Although praised for its influence, Instagram has
been the subject of criticism, most notably for policy and interface changes, allegations of
censorship, and illegal or improper content uploaded by users.
As of 14 January 2019, the most liked photo on Instagram is a picture of an egg, posted by the
account @world_record_egg, created with a sole purpose of surpassing the previous record of 18
million likes on a Kylie Jenner post. The picture currently has over 50 million likes.[10]

Contents

 1History

 2Features and tools

o 2.1Explore

o 2.2Photographic filters

o 2.3Video

o 2.4Instagram Direct

o 2.5Instagram Stories

o 2.6Monetization

o 2.7Stand-alone apps
 o 2.8Third-party services

 3User characteristics and behavior

o 3.1Users

o 3.2User engagement

o 3.3Trends

 4Criticism

o 4.1Content ownership

o 4.2Illicit drugs

o 4.3Allegations of censorship

o 4.4Timeline algorithm

o 4.5Negative comments

o 4.6Mental health

o 4.7"Shadowban"

o 4.8Algorithmic advertisement with rape threat

o 4.9August 2017 hack

o 4.10Update December 2018

 5Censorship

o 5.1China

o 5.2Turkey

o 5.3North Korea

 6Awards

 7In popular culture

 8See also

 9References

 10External links
History

The login and sign-up screen for the Instagram app on the iPhone as of April 2016

Instagram began development in San Francisco, when Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger chose to
focus their multi-featured HTML5 check-in project, Burbn, on mobile photography. As Krieger
reasoned, Burbn became too similar to Foursquare, and both realized that it had gone too far. Burbn
was then pivoted to become more focused on photo-sharing.[11][12] The word Instagram is a
portmanteau of instant camera and telegram.[12]
On March 5, 2010, Systrom closed a $500,000 seed funding round with Baseline Ventures
and Andreessen Horowitz while working on Burbn.[13] Josh Riedel joined the company in October as
Community Manager,[14] Shayne Sweeney joined in November as an engineer, [14] and Jessica Zollman
joined as a Community Evangelist in August 2011.[14][15]
Kevin Systrom posted the first photo to Instagram on July 16, 2010.[16][17] The photo shows a dog in
Mexico and Systrom's girlfriend's foot; the photo has been enhanced using Instagram's X-PRO2
filter.[18]
On October 6, 2010, the Instagram iOS app was officially released through the App Store.[19][20]
In February 2011, it was reported that Instagram had raised $7 million in Series Afunding from a
variety of investors, including Benchmark Capital, Jack Dorsey, Chris Sacca (through Capital fund),
and Adam D'Angelo.[21] The deal valued Instagram at around $20 million.[22]
On April 3, 2012, Instagram was released for Android phones,[23][24] and it was downloaded more than
one million times in less than one day.[25]
In March 2012, The Wall Street Journal reported that Instagram was raising a new round of financing
that would value the company at $500 million,[26] details that were confirmed the following month,
when Instagram raised $50 million from venture capitalists with a $500 million valuation.[27] The same
month, Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion in cash and stock,[28][29][30] with a plan to keep the
company independently managed.[31][32][33] Britain's Office of Fair Trading approved the deal on August
14, 2012,[34] and on August 22, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. closed its
investigation, allowing the deal to proceed.[35] On September 6, 2012, the deal between Instagram
and Facebook was officially closed.[36]
The deal, which was made just prior to Facebook's scheduled IPO, cost about a quarter of
Facebook's cash-on-hand, according to figures documented at the end of 2011. [33] The deal was for a
company characterized as having "lots of buzzbut no business model", and the price was contrasted
with the $35 million Yahoo! paid for Flickr in 2005.[33] Mark Zuckerbergnoted that Facebook was
"committed to building and growing Instagram independently", in contrast to its past practices.
[33]
According to Wired, the deal netted Systrom $400 million based on his ownership stake in the
business.[37] The exact purchase price was $300 million in cash and 23 million shares of stock.[38]
In November 2012, Instagram launched website profiles, allowing anyone to see users' feeds from
their web browsers. However, the website interface was limited in functionality, with notable
omissions including the lack of a search bar, a news feed, and the ability to upload photos. [39] In
February 2013, the website was updated to offer a news feed, [40] and in June 2015, the website was
redesigned to offer bigger photos.[41][42]
On October 22, 2013, during the Nokia World event held in Abu Dhabi, Systrom confirmed the
upcoming release of the official Instagram app for Windows Phone, [43] after pressure from Nokia and
the public to develop an app for the platform.[44][45] The app was released as a beta version on
November 21, 2013, and was lacking the ability to record and upload video, though an Instagram
spokesperson stated that "We're not finished, and our team will continue developing the Windows
Phone app to keep releasing features and bringing you the best Instagram possible". [46][47] In April
2016, Instagram upgraded the app to Windows 10 Mobile, adding support for video and direct
messages,[48] followed by later updates in October 2016 that extended the app to Windows
10 personal computers and tablets.[49][50]
The Android app has received two major exclusive updates. The first, introduced in March 2014, cut
the size of the app by half and added significant improvements to performance and responsiveness
on a wide variety of Android devices.[51][52]The Verge wrote that the development team had tested the
app on devices not for sale in the United States, particularly low-end models like Samsung Galaxy Y,
in an effort to improve the app for its userbase located outside the U.S. Engineering manager Philip
McAllister told The Verge that "More than 60 percent of our users are outside the US, and Android
covers roughly half of total Instagram users".[53] The second update, introduced in April 2017, added
an offline mode, in which content previously loaded in the news feed is available without an Internet
connection, and users can comment, like, save media, and unfollow users, all of which will take
effect once the user goes back online. At the time of the announcement, it was reported that 80% of
Instagram's 600 million users are located outside the U.S., and while the aforementioned
functionality was live at announcement, Instagram also announced its intention to make more
features available offline "in the following months", and that they were "exploring an iOS version". [54][55]
[56]

Since the app's launch it had used the Foursquare API technology to provide named location
tagging. In March 2014, Instagram started testing switching the technology to using Facebook
Places.[57][58]
Announced in March 2016 and taking place in June, Instagram switched from a strictly chronological
oldest-to-newest news feed to a new, algorithm-based feed. The change received "widespread
outcry" following Instagram's March announcement, but Instagram stated that the feature would help
users discover lost posts, writing that "You may be surprised to learn that people miss on average
70 percent of their feeds. As Instagram has grown, it's become harder to keep up with all the photos
and videos people share. This means you often don't see the posts you might care about the most.
To improve your experience, your feed will soon be ordered to show the moments we believe you
will care about the most."[59][60][61]
On May 11, 2016, Instagram revamped its design, adding a black-and-white theme for the app and a
more abstract, "modern" and colorful icon.[62][63][64] Rumors of a redesign first started circulating in April,
when The Verge received a screenshot from a tipster, but at the time, an Instagram spokesperson
simply told the publication that "This is a design test only".[65]
On September 24, 2018, Krieger and Systrom announced in a statement they would be stepping
down from Instagram.[66][67]On October 1, 2018, it was announced that Adam Mosseri would be the
new head of Instagram.[68][69]
Instagram adds alternative text features to photo posts allowing visual impaired user to listen to
descriptions of each photo which has alternative text, either automatic generated text or user-input
text.[70][71][72]

Features and tools