Recently, I read an article named “Why Instagram Might Be The Best Internet Acquisition Ever” written by Eric Jackson on forbes.com. In this post, he argued that even though Facebook’s future is by no means guaranteed by acquiring Instagram, this photo sharing platform is the best Internet acquisition ever.

I personally agree with the author. Some might oppose that 55m photos are shared a day on Instagram while 350m and 400m a day are also shared on Snapchat and Whatsapp respectively. Since Instagram is not the hottest photo app, Facebook should not buy it unless Facebook is going to buy Whatsapp, Snapchat and the next ten as well. However, I don’t think   (# photo shared)/day is a reasonably metric, considering that apps like Line are more of a 1:1 photo sharing service whereas Instagram mainly aims at public sharing.

Furthermore, photos are on Instagram have greater commercial value than others. Advertisements on Instagram are put in forms of fancy pictures and short videos, being better blended in it and thus resulting in surprising effect. Facebook that is facing the problem losing more and more active users, especially the youth, urgently needs a new product to maintain its customer base and explore a larger market. The acquisition of Instagram expands Facebook’s revenue stream, adds to its profitability and consequently makes it probably the best acquisition.

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Sources:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2013/11/12/why-instagram-might-be-the-best-internet-acquisition-ever/2/

http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2013/11/10/instagram-and-youtube

http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2013/11/05/did-instagram-sell-too-early/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/10/03/instagram-launches-ads-promises-well-start-slow/