Since its launch in October 2010, Instagram has risen in popularity at an incredible pace. Today, millions of users resort to this app to share pictures and videos. No wonder many aspiring influencers regard this app as a launching pad to fame and fortune.
Despite Instagram’s enormous popularity, becoming a social media star via this app is not easy at all. In part, it is the result of Instagram having just one button to like a picture. Thus, many influencers opt to buy Instagram likes to shorten the time to become famous. Only then, they can start monetizing their digital content.
But, how did it happen? How did Instagram become the top app in the world in this category? The following is a brief story of this successful app since its creation.
The Beginnings of Instagram
Kevin Systrom, a young Stanford University graduate, developed a prototype for an app named Burbn in 2009. Originally, this app would allow people to share their plans. An innovative feature of Burb was the possibility to share pictures also. Systrom raised some venture capital to finance his entrepreneurial idea. Then, Mike Krieger, another Stanford graduate, joined him to develop the idea further.
Together, they decided that the app would be mainly for sharing pictures taken with mobile devices. This idea combined a photographic app with social media functionality. Soon after, the app was renamed Instagram. The platform would allow users to share pictures and get“likes” like on Facebook.
On October 6, 2010, Instagram was officially launched. On that day, 25,000 people downloaded the app. By the end of the year, Instagram had already one million users. Such a tremendous success immediately attracted the interest of investors and other social media platforms. Twitter attempted to acquire Instagram in 2011 but was turned down. But in April 2012, Facebook successfully acquired Instagram.
Features Added Over Time
Since its creation, Instagram has had a simplistic and minimalistic approach. A few features have been added over time:
- Photo/ video uploading;
- Media editing via filters;
- Hashtags and geolocation information;
- Users can control the privacy of their profiles.
Compared to the initial version, Instagram allows sharing larger pictures now. One of the most successful features added recently is “Instagram Stories.” It is somehow analogous to the “Facebook stories” feature. The stories are viewable for 24 hours only. With more than 1 billion users worldwide, Instagram has become the most used platform to share photos and videos in the world.
The possibilities to become an influencer and monetize your content on this platform are quite big. To make it happen faster, you can pay to get Instagram comments and see how your following grows more quickly. Otherwise, it may take months or even years to be noticed. The number of likes and comments are crucial for your content to be regarded as authoritative. Instagram will automatically show your content to more users in such a case.
