From photo albums to Facebook profiles, picture sharing is a cultural phenomenon that people of all backgrounds can understand and utilize to express themselves, their interests, and ultimately tell their story. Photographers can be anyone, from the highly paid natural geographic artists to your father with a digital camera in hand. However, Instagram truly brought the professional touch to the average joe through their inventive photo capturing app technology.

Primarily, Instagram was born from the need to capture a moment and share it; instantly. As the inventive word derived from “instant” and “telegram” its mission was to dominate the photo sharing space and become the best. Unimaginably, Instagram was not the original creation of its founder Kevin Systrom, age 28 (wow, only 28) and Mike Krieger. In fact, Burbn was the original name of the location-based photo sharing company. The underlying concept of Burbn was to “let users check-in to locations, make future plans with acquaintances, earn points for hanging out with friends, and post pictures.” However, once in developing stages, the founders discovered that the over-complicated and overabundance of features would confuse their users and would not dominate the field in any one capacity. As a result, as instantly as the name suggests, Instagram was created. Within a short time span Instagram had been developed, keeping in mind simplicity, ease of use, and clear communication of its core goal; photo sharing. [reference: Inc. – Erin Markowitz]

Classroom Take-away: The e-marketing project entailed building a social communication strategy or implementation plan designed to best fit the business client. After discussions with the restaurant Catch 122, it became clear that Instagram was a key fit for their business and its dedication to being different.

 The concept: A photo menu.

 Ever walk into a restaurant not knowing what your order would look like until it arrives to your table after it leaves the kitchen in the back of the restaurant you almost never see. Think again. Through the usage of an Instagram profile for the restaurant and the hashtag #Catch122menu, my group and I designed a well orchestrated strategy to invite the people themselves in the restaurant to participate in becoming “food photographers” as well as true “foodies” by seeing the food on Instagram when ordering and adding to the menu by photographing and tagging it for others to view.

Simple ideas are truly dominating the technology space. As high-tech as it may seem, it pays to be a true believer in a simple solution.

Instagram was acquired by Facebook for $1 billion. Simple.

Check out this Instagram blog to see how Instagram was used to capture images of hurricane Sandy!