Ever since I purchased my iPhone and made my Instagram account, I had always wondered why it was exclusive to the mobile platform. I guess many people were wondering the same thing as me, because just last week Instagram finally launched online user pages; something that has been rumored for quite some time and has finally come to fruition.
It is a sleek and simple design, with a changing picture collage banner at the top of the profile, and small previews of each of your pictures at the lower part of the webpage. It should be noted that not all functions of the mobile form are available, but important ones such as the ability to like and comment on other people’s photos are there. One glaring thing that has been left out in the first web offering is the ability to upload photos onto your account from your computer. It’s tough to say why this would be, as this is a major part of the Instagram experience that seems to be deliberately left out for now.
Although many expected this move to happen eventually, what intrigues me most is seeing a company diverting from traditional methods of developing an online presence and than moving over to the mobile platform. Instagram has done the complete opposite, as they built the billion dollar business solely using the online platform, and have now finally made the move to online, something that perhaps stems from the Facebook acquisition 5 months ago.
To me this is a sign of things to come for companies in the future, with more and more mobile start ups surfacing each day. Soon it will not be uncommon for a company to start on mobile without any online presence and then move online once they are well established; something that Instagram has done extremely effectively.
Since the release, Instagram has spoken up to shoot down rumours that it is going to switch its focus to having primarily online activities, saying that the company is focused on maintaining its mobile platform to be its number one priority. I believe that a balance between the two is key, and Instagram is making the right decision in developing their online platform, however I also believe that Instagram could further capture a market share away from photo sharing companies such as Flickr if they continue to work on improving the online presence. Obviously there is going to be differences between the online and mobile forms of Instagram in order to optimize the usability for the users, however, I believe that the ability to upload photo’s online is something that needs to be implemented next if Instagram is serious about establishing their online platform.