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Facebook to acquire Instagram for 1 billion dollars
Social media giant Facebook has agreed to buy Instagram, the popular photo sharing site in a deal that will be worth about 1 billion dollars. The deal was announced on Monday 9 April 2012. The make-up of the 1 billion will be cash and Facebook shares. According to an update from Facebook, the deal should be concluded by 30 June 2012.
This is the largest acquisition made to date by Facebook.Instagram, which was only started in October 2010. Instagram now has over 30 million users. Thus far Facebook has made mainly small acquisitions. In his announcement on the deal Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged it was the first time acquiring a company with so many users and indicated that not many deals of such a nature will take place in future.
According to Wikipedia, Instagram is a free photo sharing application that allows users to take a photo, apply a digital filter, then share it on a variety of social networking services including Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr, Flickr , Foursquare and Posterous and Instagram’s own website. The application is compatible with any iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch running iOS 3.1.2 or above. These social networking service include Facebook’s own competitors. What makes the photos on Instagram different is that they are in a distinctive square shape. whereas the more common aspect ratio used in mobile device cameras is 4:3.
Given Facebook’s aspirations in the mobile space, the acquiring Instagram could turn out to be a key strategic move. There is a good chance that at some stage Facebook will bring your social graph into the picture. Facebook has made great strides in connecting with their users across the internet and Instagram could be an important part of the puzzle in the mobile space.
Facebook insists that the site (Instagram) will continue to be run independently. Time will tell if this will indeed be the case. The trend in the past for Facebook acquisitions has been that the company bought is shut down and the talent is integrated into Facebook. Photo sharing played a big part in Facebook’s growth. especially the ability to tag friends in the photos. As at end of December 2011, Facebook had at least 850 million users.
This acquisition is likely to make some Instagram users uneasy given Facebook’s history with privacy issues and it’s usage of personal information. As Facebook prepares to list this year, it is under pressure to find more sustainable sources of revenue. There will be immense pressure in the company reach out to more users and provide information that can be of value to advertisers. To what extent will it integrate it’s services with Instagram? Given that Instagram provides a service to Facebook’s own competitors how will it work? Facebook has given assurances that this ability to post on other networks will remain in place.
Do you use both Facebook and Instagram? How do you feel about this acquisition. I would love to hear if you are excited or unhappy about it.
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Will there ever be enough social networking websites?
Lots and lots of invitations - If you are like me you probably get a lot of invitations to various social networking websites ( I will just refer to these as social networks going forward in this article.) As I write this article I probably have accounts on at least 10 or so social networks that I am on as a member and counting. As a social media coach it is my business to know what the trend is with social media and I try to keep up. How far can I go with keeping up? How far can you go?
Feeling overwhelmed? - However, I must admit that at some stage I was starting to get overwhelmed and started to feel that I was now stretching myself too thin. What is my advice for anyone who might be struggling with making a decision when they are invited to a new social network? Do we have to accept every single invitation that comes our way? Not at all. We should make decisions based our unique situation, experience and goals.
Stay focused - Think about what it is that you really want to achieve in your personal and professional life. For me what I really want to do is to empower people with knowledge about life, technology and social media itself. For this I find that Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are very effective and efficient. Facebook is great for catching with friends and also for sharing a lot inspirational and motivational material. I can write quite a bit on Facebook. Twitter suits me when I have a few words, the 140 character limit is a constant reminder to keep it short and sweet.
My Favourite - Of all the social networks my favourite is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the network where I connect, engage and share with other professionals. My interactions on LinkedIn are always guided by my goals and aspirations as a professional. I get a good deal of business on LinkedIn but it did take a bit of time to learn how the site works.
What are the trends? Who is making the news? - While I focus on the main social networks at this time I cannot help looking at the trends and seeing what could be the hottest thing. I was totally amazed by how Pinterest was growing. I tried joining the site but because it was only by invitation I had to wait a good week or so before I got invited. What happened when I joined was quite extraordinary for me because I just could not figure out the site. However, I am now starting to appreciate just how powerful a site like Pinterest is if you have visual content in your business or can bring out the visual aspect of whatever you are doing. There are many more social networks but the ones I am referring to in this article are the ones that have made the most impact for me.
Keep an eye on those guys - I keep an eye out always. I keep an eye on the leaders in social media not just in South Africa but abroad as well. What is happening in other countries on the continent? Kenya is absolutely incredible when it comes to social media. I read what the leaders post and check out their links. I test their advice and reflect on the experience. I visit the groups on LinkedIn and see what people are talking about. When I have questions I ask.
Even more coming - I have realised that social networks are just like most things in life. Let’s start with someone who is a pioneer in a particular field. They spend several years testing the theories through observation and experiment. Then the next person just improves on it marginally or radically focussing a complete rethink in much less time than the first person. When I think of Myspace and Facebook, it’s very easy to think these companies were worlds apart in terms of their vision. It is very possible that Myspace failed to execute on its great vision and Facebook picked up the pieces and connected them to become the behemoth we know today. Most people have probably forgotten that Microsoft was probably the first big company to come up with Tablets back in the 1990s but where they failed Apple has blown everyone away and now they have US$100 billion in cash that they only recently figured out what they are going to do with it. I believe that even Facebook with close to 1 billion users will be challenged. This is the nature of innovation. Our needs as users are evolving all the time. What we wanted yesterday is different from what we want today! We are becoming more sophisticated. We are becoming very picky. We want more intuitive social networks that respect our privacy and are completely open with us. We do not like to be tricked with legalese or taken for stupes. We vote with our feet or mouse clicks when this happens. I do hope that Facebook does not relax now that they are the largest social network. The bigger they are the heavier they fall as well. Talk to IBM, they know all about it. Who knows a site like Ark.com could even usurp Facebook one day. So I expect more social networks to keep coming. Never say never with technology. Never say never period!
Operating System – The one thing about Facebook is that it’s more than a social network. Facebook seeks to be the operating system of the internet. What I really mean by this is that Facebook seeks to touch every aspect of our lives that has anything to do with the internet. While this might seem ridiculous, think of how much information you have share with your network on Facebook over the past years. With more Apps and features that touch on more aspects of our lives Facebook gets closer to achieving its vision. It’s already possible to carry out transactions using Facebook Credits. I believe that in this respect Facebook has a very big advantage over other social networks.
Fragmentation - Because Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, just 3 of the biggest social networks, already have so many users among themselves, the new social networks that come up might be left with the remainder of people that are not hooked to these sites. This is what conventional thinking might tell me. However, we are already seeing with a website like Ark.com that it is possible to build over what is there already with Facebook, Google, LinkedIn to name just a few people. Why try to outreach the giants when you can simply stand on their shoulders.
Limited time - There are some constants that social networks will be competing for. The day only has 24 hours, we need to sleep a good 8 and put in a decent day or work. If I am connecting very well with my network using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other tools, it’s going to take a lot to convince to jump to something else. I tried Google+ for a while, I guess them the benefit of the doubt but so far they have not yet managed to convince me that going on their site every single day is a good way to use my limited.
In conclusion, I ask again will there ever be enough social networks? You tell me. I would be keen to hear your thoughts on this one? How are you coping with all the social networks?
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