The estimated reading time for this post is 5 minutes
The Wonder of Tech welcomes Brock Thompson who writes about one of his favorite websites, Instagram, a popular social media site that was purchased by Facebook last year. Brock explains why he is such a fan of Instagram and why you should be too!
What Is Instagram?
Instagram is a mobile application that allows you to post photo status updates for your friends and followers to see, comment upon, and favorite. You can follow people and have others follow you. Photos are the essence of Instagram.
Instagram was launched in 2010 with its unique approach to online interaction. The service continues to grow quickly and now has over 100 million users. In 2012, Facebook, recognizing its popularity and growth, purchased Instagram.
Why Should You Use Instagram?
Most of us use social media outlets to stay current and communicate with our friends and family. More than ever, we now have the ability to tailor our social media experience to our preferences by choosing the social media applications we wish to be involved in. These applications are constantly vying to be entrusted and chosen as our favorite social media site.
More Engaging
Instagram is different from other social media applications because each user’s post simply consists of an image with an optional caption. Instagram is visual so viewing your Instagram feed is a beautiful, image-rich experience for the people that mean the most to you. If you “read” magazines only for the pictures, Instagram is for you!
Images make the social media experience more exciting, personal, and engaging. Including an image within a Facebook status update generates 53% more likes and 104% more comments than a basic (boring!), text-only post.
Better Communication
There’s no better way to feel as if you’re near someone you care about than viewing snapshots of their lives. For example, a text-only status update that reads, “Whoa! I just made an awesome dinner!” does an inadequate job of describing the dinner compared to a photo status update. A photo communicates what food was prepared, how it looked, how much was made, how appetizing it looked, the texture, and the setting in which it was prepared, all without saying a single word. Your followers can interpret the photo themselves to decide how good it looked and communicate it through a comment or “liking” it.
It’s Not Facebook
For many, Instagram proves to be an appreciated alternative to Facebook due to its privacy settings. A recent study of 802 teens by the Pew Internet and American Life project found that many teens are worried that too many people may be watching what they post to Facebook such as college admission officers, parents, teachers, or preachers. Interestingly, some respondents expressed they feel safer and less vulnerable using Instagram versus Facebook.
Female (age 13): “I feel like over Facebook, people can say whatever they want to. They can message you. And on Instagram you can delete the comment really easily, and you don’t have to live with it, kind of. Whereas Facebook, if they say something mean, it hurts more. I don’t know why it does. And also [Instagram] it’s not public, so people tend to not come off so mean. Because all they really want is for people [to] like their photos.”
Instagram’s simplicity and superior privacy enable users to have a fun, Facebook-free outlet to share visually what is going on in their lives while minimizing the fallout from mean friends or snooping viewers.
Getting Started
Grab your mobile device!
Instagram is inherently mobile which is convenient since you’re snapping and sharing photos on the go. There is an Instagram website, but it doesn’t have all the features of the app. Instagram.com won’t even let you register a new account on their website, so don’t try! Instead, head over to the app store and download the official Instagram app.
Apps
The Instagram app is available for free:
Register
Instagram uses Twitter-like “handles” for usernames. When you register, you’ll choose a handle that nobody else on Instagram has claimed yet. Use a derivative of your name (mine is brockthomp) or words that describe you.
Follow
After you register, you can let Instagram scan your list of Facebook friends to see which of those friends also have an Instagram account. Then you can decide which of those Facebook friends you’d like to follow on Instagram. Odds are, those friends will follow you back.
Get your feet wet
Pretty easy so far, right? Now you’ll have a beautiful, photo-rich feed on your Instagram homepage filled with photos from the users you’re following. See a photo you like? Double tap a photo in the feed to “like” that photo. You’ll see a heart that shows you liked that photo.
You can easily leave comments by clicking the thought bubble below each photo. Like Twitter, you can mention another user if you wish by using the @username format. Doing so will alert @username that they have been mentioned in a comment which encourages them to join in the conversation.
Join in!
You’ve poked around long enough. It’s time to post your first photo! Find a beautiful or interesting subject (scenery, a baby, a crafting project you just did, etc.), open the Instagram app and choose the middle icon that looks like a camera . Then, take a picture!
You’ll be able to edit the photo from within the app, adjusting the contrast, brightness, or rotation and applying filters if needed. Feel free to try filters to apply an effect such as making the colors more/less saturated, converting to a black and white/sepia look, and many others.
After applying those final touches to your photo, you’ll see another screen allowing you to add a caption, include people (if the picture has another Instagram user shown in it), add the photo to your Photo Map (which tags geographical information where the photo was taken), and share the photo to other social media outlets as well.
After accepting the final settings, your photo will be posted to all of your followers’ feeds where they can Like and leave comments on your photo.
Enjoy!
The simplicity and effectiveness of Instagram give you the ability to colorfully illustrate and share your life through photography. You should use Instagram if you’d like to share your life and engage with others with more than just words.
Have you given Instagram a try? What did you think? Let us know in the Comments below! Share your Instagram user name in your comment if you want more followers.
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Brock Thompson is a fellow technology blogger and a web project manager at Spire Advertising in Ohio. Check out other articles by him at Brock Thompson’s technology blog.
Great introduction to Instagram Brock. I myself have not started with Instagram yet but after this article i might 🙂
Thanks Johan! It’s worth a look, and I hope you like it.
Hi Johan, Thanks. You’re right, Brock did a great job explaining Instagram and why we should use it. I agree, I want to give it a try too after reading Brock’s article!
I love photo apps. At least I try as many as possible, few sticks out. Instagram has been a winner from the day one. There are so many photo apps, in some way even more capable than Instagram. But if these guys did one thing right and flawlessly, it was the sharing. It was so easy, intuitive, and capable, that it caught on via virality.
In terms of photo editing though, its limited. Another limit is its always square shaped.
Hi iRewardChart, sounds as if you’re a big fan of Instagram too! I love hearing from other fans who share their thoughts on tech covered here.
I hadn’t tried Instagram, but you and Brock make a compelling case why I should give it a try!
Hi Brock, and welcome to Carolyn’s blog 🙂
This is surely an informative post about Instagram that anyone would love to go through. I did because though I know about my friend’s using it, but I’ve somehow never gone ahead and checked it out because of the lack of interest and knowledge, both combined.
However, your post surely made me change my mind, and I’m just heading over to check it all out now.
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead, both of you 🙂
Hi Harleena!
Agreed! The fear of the unknown, especially with social media sites, is definitely the largest barrier to entry. Its tough to work up the gumption to take on another social media site’s learning curve! I hope the post helped smooth that curve out for you.
Hi Harleena, You and I are in the same boat. I never understood what the fuss was all about with Instagram, but now I do. I don’t really have time for another social media site but this one seems like a lot of fun and easy to keep up with.
If you set up an Instagram account, let me know your username and I’ll be sure to follow you, Harleena!
Welcome to Carolyn’s blog Brock and great post.
I’ve never ventured over to Instagram and I guess after all the commotion I heard about it recently I was glad I didn’t. I have several friends that were not very happy with being told their photos would be shared without their permission. I know that’s all blown over now.
As Carolyn knows me too, I just got an iPhone a few months ago and before that I have an iPod Touch but the photos don’t really come out clear with that one. I usually just upload my photos to the computer and then share some on Facebook that I want but I don’t share them all.
It’s a cool program though so thanks for this great explanation because it’s definitely a popular one too.
You both enjoy your week.
~Adrienne
Thanks for the comment Adrienne!
Privacy couldn’t be a hotter topic these days, and the example you gave is a perfect example. Any chance you are using Dropbox to sync your iPhone’s photos to your computer? I love the seamless, automatic syncing of photos that Dropbox introduced last year.
Take care!
I don’t use Dropbox Brock. I only signed up with it because a friend wanted to send me some very large files but haven’t used it since. As Carolyn knows about me, I’m not very techie when it comes to a lot of these programs. I don’t know what I would do without her.
Maybe I should check that out! Thanks for letting me know of this Brock.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, Brock has a great suggestion for you. I agree, download the Dropbox app onto both your iPod Touch and your iPhone. Authorize both to transfer pictures automatically from your iDevices to your Dropbox account. Bam! You just got an extra Gb of free Dropbox space.
See 8 Easy Ways to Get Free Dropbox Space https://wonderoftech.com/how-to-get-free-dropbox-space/
Having Dropbox on your phone will mean you can transfer files between your phone and computer quickly and easily. Yea!
i think facebook has purcased the instagram and made it whatsapp… it looks cool because you cn use social sites by your mobiles
Hi Abdul, Excellent point. Instagram seems especially easy to use because it was designed to be mobile from the beginning, instead of being a website first then adapting to mobile.
Instagram?I am still trying to figure out Pinterest and Twitter!
Hi Barrett, Lol, yes, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by social media. But Brock makes Instagram sound very easy to use. I am going to give it a whirl!
I think it will be nice social site. Actually I am so much bored about Facebook. So I’ll try it through my Smartphone later.
Thanks Carolyn, for sharing this……… 🙂
Hi Lara, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I hope you enjoy using Instagram. 🙂
I’m a huge fan of Instagram and have been using it since day 1 i came to know about it.. I think every one should give it a try as this is one of the best innovations till date in my perspective ..facebook recognized its importance and hence bought it .This post . by this time would have surely opened many eyes .
Regards,
Pramod
Pramod,
Sounds like you’re a well-seasoned user!
I agree. It’s simplicity is its strength. Thanks for commenting!
Thanks so much for your comment, Pramod! It’s so helpful to hear from another Instagram fan who enjoys the site as much as Brock does. I knew that Instagram had a lot of fans which is why I was so thrilled to have Brock here to share this wonderful article with us!
I hope you continue to enjoy Instagram, Pramod! 🙂
I’ve heard a lot about Instagram but I haven’t got around to checking it out yet. It seems like I might need to get cloned to keep up with all these social media sites! Brock, nice overview and love the pic of the dog.
Hi Frank, I know what you mean. I hadn’t checked out Instagram yet, but Brock gives great reasons why I should.
Yes, his dog is adorable! :-bd
Hi Brock,
Thank you for this nice and informative post about Instagram. It really seems easy to understand and to use. I understand that Instagram is rather for mobiles than for desktops. This should make it different somehow from Pinterest. OK. This is what I want to know.
In Pinterest you can also see a photo, comment on it, follow people , have other people follow you etc. Did you try to compare the two networks? Are there any other differences apart from the devices you use?
Have a nice day
Hi Silviu! Thanks for the comment.
The main differentiator between Pinterest and Instagram is the source of the photos. With Pinterest, you are normally pinning and Sharing other people’s photos and images that you found on the Internet. With Instagram, you are taking the photo with your mobile device and sharing that photo on the Internet.
I hope this helps!
Hey Brock
Instagram is really very good mobile application. Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and launched in October 2010. The service rapidly gained popularity, with over 100 million active users as of April 2012. Instagram is distributed through Apple app store and Google play.
Thanks for sharing with us.
Hi Brock, and thank you so much for the great introduction to Instagram.
I have been using it for a while, and I am still fascinated by everything you can do with it. It’s so easy to just take a picture and publish it, but there are some really awesome filters, and I just love the way people communicate with the short comments on Instagram. I haven’t tried it for business yet, but I can imagine how powerful it can be to show customers what we’re doing, and engage with our customers in a very easy way.
Hi Jens, that’s great you’re a fan of Instagram too. I’ve heard that some businesses are using Instagram, which is interesting from a marketing perspective.presenting your products visually through Instagram may be a powerful way of sending a message, just as with using it personally.
I love your article!and also I love Instagram! If you want your photo to be more interesting or cooler, try it with Instagram:)
Hi Anna Lyn, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! It’s great to hear from another Instgram fan. 🙂
Yah i am also a great fan of instagram because it is awesome.
Excellent, Merlin. Thanks for sharing your passion for Instagram with us! 🙂
Hello Brock and Carolyn,
I just recently started using Instagram, because frankly speaking, I am not a fan of all the effects that Instagram has to offer. Being an amateur photographer (just a hobby), I prefer the classical way of photography, with SLRs (well, D-SLRs nowadays).
But then again, the social aspect of Instagram can never be ignored, and that’s why I started using it.
Hi Sourav, Yes, there are better ways to filter your photos than the Instagram filters, though not as convenient if you’re posting directly from your mobile device onto Instagram.
You could use a different tech tool, such as Photoshop or PicMonkey, to edit your photos before uploading them to Instagram.
Yes I generally use Photoshop to do all the post processing stuff. But for uploading to Instagram, I generally upload it directly from my phone.
Yes, Sourav, Instagram is designed for convenience. You could check out some other photo filtering apps for your phone, but that wouldn’t be as convenient as just using the filters in Instagram. You’re right, it would be great for them to add more powerful filtering to their app.
it certainly can be better than facebook. Here, the photos we share are not for all the public as is the case with the facebook. The level of privacy is a bit higher in Instagram.
Hi Yogesh, Yes, excellent point. Instagram gives an alternative to Facebook for sharing your photos with your friends and followers.
I am Love photo and apps.It is my hobby to collect new types of photo. Instagram is fantastic social websites in pics. All lot beautiful and fabulous pic are avail able on this websites. Thanks for nice sharing…
Hi Ethan, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I’m so glad you like photos and apps. Instagram does a great job of combining the two with social media.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts here, Ethan.