instagram 101

Presentation © 2011 » Starmark International • Instagram © Dogpatch Labs. • All Rights Reserved

InstagramThe “social photography” smart-phone application defined and explored.

So what is Instagram?

Instagram (IG) is a free ‘social photography’ application originally designed for the Apple iPhone. Its purpose is multi-modal:

• To take, crop and filter photos with a predetermined amount of ‘in-app’ effects.

• Title, geographically denote and tag the photos, if desired.

• Allow users to upload their photos to social sharing applications such as:

• Facebook

• Tumblr

• Flickr

• Twitter

• Foursquare

Social Photography

Simply stated, ‘social photography’ are websites and applications that allow people to post, comment and share digital photos. Popularity for these tools has grown exponentially over the past decade.

Since that time, three very monumental changes have occurred:

1.Digital photography (being inverse reciprocal) has allowed countless people to create an endless stream of photographic content, A.K.A.– “UGC” or user-generated content.

2.Digital photography and its social sharing counterpart have single-handedly deconstructed the business of traditional photography as we know it.

3.Social media has created an inexpensive level playing field for users to self-publish, distribute and share their creations.

Social Photo Landscape

Of course, with all successful application’s the landscape is littered with choices.

So why Instagram?

There are many reason why users have adopted Instagram as their social photo application of choice but a few points always come to the top:

• Intuitive interface

• Fun “lomo” (vintage) filters

• Easy to follow and be followed

• Large active community

• and it’s free... for now.

Instagram: Camera

It all beings after opening the application and you choose the center button that then brings up the camera function.

Taking a photo is quick and simple with just one touch.

Instagram: Move & Scale

Once you’ve taken your photo, you can zoom in and out of the image using the iPhone’s dual-touch functionality. Once it’s where you want it, click the “Choose” button and away you go!

Instagram: Filters

Once you’ve cropped your image, you can then play with various predetermined filters within the application to achieve various looks and quality levels.

Instagram: Sharing

From there, you can then assign a title to your photo.

You can also choose to define the location of the picture using your phone’s GPS abilities. And lastly, you can choose what social distribution points you want for your photograph to take.

Important note: Instagram itself takes and harbors your photos on its own servers for your own gallery of photos. This is important as this is where people actively participate in discussion surround IG photos.

Instagram: Feed

The “feed” button allows you to scroll through photos of people that you have selected to follow. Instagram also ports in new photographers to your feed occasionally to expose you to new talent.

Instagram: Popular

Photos that are rapidly “liked” within the application can be chosen to get placed on a temporary popular page. Here, a user can see an ever changing list of photos deemed popular by the applications internal algorithm.

Instagram: News

With the “news” button selected, a user can quickly see what photos their followers are looking at, and commenting on. This is an easy and brilliant way to pull you into exploring talent outside of your followers as well as see what photos within your own work are being viewed.

Instagram: Search

Here, you will notice that you can select the ability to search all the photos contained within the Instagram community.

You can then select from users’ screen names or actual names. Or you can search by #tagged keywords.

Instagram: Results

So as quickly as I can think of a keyword, I could be meeting someone with my same likes and interests along with a photographic representation of that subject.

Thoughts for clients:

• Travel destinations & Hoteliers

• Exclusive content

• Brand impressions

• Products in use

• Reviews

Brands Using Instagram?

Are major brands using Instagram? Yes. What are they showing? Anything and everything including (but not limited to):

• Live events

• Promotions

• Behind the scenes

• Breaking news and viral content

Instagram Photography

It’s easy to say they’re just cell-phone photos. But having been exposed to photography as an art-form and professional practice all of my life I can tell you there’s something special here.

Photographers, lomographers and digital photographers can all agree “that the best camera is the one you have in your hand.”

@streetstylish

@kino_in_paris

@jfalconer1

@stardreamer

@ryocoryocoryoco

@mattphotos

Instagram: The API

Software developers can choose to create what are called “application programming interface” (API) systems to allow external developers to tie into their software through a common developmental vocabulary. This allows developers and designers to make and expand on the application using the primary software as the backbone of their outcome.

The Instagram Empire

The future looks picture perfect

017.5

3552.5

70

Instagram

FoodSpotting

Foursquare

Hashable

Uber

SWAGG

Beluga

SCVNGR

Whrrl

Kik

Gowalla

% Based on positive feedback with application user base

Presentation © 2011 » Starmark International • Instagram © Dogpatch Labs. • All Rights Reserved

Thank you!Presenter: Justice Mitchell

Instagram: justicemitchellTwitter: @justicemitchellBlog: justicemitchell.comFacebook: justicewmitchell