Hello Geeks! 👋
Instagram was launched on 6 October 2010, meaning it will be 10 years old next week 🥳. It got me thinking about just how much the platform has changed in that time…
Instagram’s original slogan when it launched in 2010 was “Capture and share the world’s moments”. Today, Instagram says it is "Bringing you closer to the people and things you love”. This change neatly encapsulates the way the platform has evolved over the past 10 years….
What was once an app to help you quickly capture, filter, and share beautiful images, has now become something far bigger and more powerful with a global community of over 1 billion users. Today, Instagram is far more than a humble photo sharing app. For many creators and influencers, it provides them with a platform to make a living on. Influencer marketing is now a $10 billion industry. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is estimated to earn over $1 million per post!
He may be an exceptional case, but as a platform, Instagram in 2020 enables its users to do so much more than just sharing breathtaking photos. Shopping at your favourite brand’s Shop, watching engaging news updates from a diverse range of publishers, viewing live celebrity videos, the list goes on… and with the recent addition of ‘Reels’ (aka Facebook’s TikTok clone), Instagram is establishing firm foundations to maintain its dominance with a new generation of users for the next 10 years.
We shouldn’t overlook how Instagram benefits hugely from being owned by the world’s most popular social network, Facebook. In a shrewd strategic move to further leverage that corporate relationship and maintain its dominant position, Facebook is currently working at speed to integrate all its messaging apps (Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram). A move which hasn’t gone unnoticed by regulators, rival platforms, and high profile Facebook critics.
For many reasons (too many to list and dig into here), Instagram’s second decade won’t be as easy as its first. Whether it’s tighter government regulation, greater competition from rivals like TikTok, a failure to adequately address platform issues such as bullying and harassment, or just simply failing to understand what its users want… Instagram will need to continue to innovate and adapt at an ever increasing speed, or risk becoming just another social network that was a big deal, for a while.
ANYWAY….
Let’s crack on with all this week’s news and updates in the world of social media. Some awesome new features have been spotted or launched. Social media managers, rejoice!
— Matt
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