Instagram

Instagram is a social platform that allows people to share photos and videos with one another. The platform confines pictures to a square and allows users to put a filter on their photos. Once a picture is chosen to share, Instagram has many options for editing. It contains a sun icon that enhances the picture, a blur icon that allows users to focus on certain aspects of their picture, a border icon that allows users to put a border on their photos, and a tilt icon that allows users to straighten their photos. In addition to photos, a recent Instagram update now allows users to record a 15 second video. One the user is happy with the way their photo looks, they can add a description, tag people, and use hashtags to share their photos.

Instagram is similar to Twitter in the way that you follow people and have followers. On the newsfeed, one can like photos by double taping the picture or clicking the heart icon below the picture. Users are also able to comment on photos and report them as inappropriate.

Instagram is becoming very popular worldwide and is on the rise.

History

Two men named Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger began Instagram development in San Francisco. They both attended Stanford University and Systrom interned at Odeo while Krieger interned at Microsoft. Initially, Systrom was building an app that allowed "location-aware photo and note-sharing" called Burbn. Through this app, Systrom met Krieger who was very interested in design and development. Together, the two limited Burbn to only photos and changed the name to Instragram. "Our goal is to not just be a photo-sharing app, but to be the way you share your life when you're on the go," Systrom says. In October of 2013, Instagram launched on Apple's App Store. Within hours, Instragram already had over 10,000 users and within fifteen months, Instagram had over 30 million users and is one of the most popular social platforms on the web. Along with Systrom and Krieger, Josh Riedel and Shayne Sweeney joined in 2010 as the Community Manager and Engineer respectively. In 2011, Jessica Zollman joined the Instagram team as a Community Evangelist. In September of 2011, Instagram 2.0 was released and in August of 2012, Instagram became available for Android.