Instagram It was not born being what we all know now and is already used by millions of people around the world. This social platform had different beginnings, so much so that it was thanks to an application with whiskey glass name the one that gave rise to the popular photographic network.
Burbn, the app that gave rise to Instagram
In the history of technology there are many success stories that were born from something completely different, but thanks to the vision of its creators it was able to reconvert itself and avoid being another failure or one of those developments without significant depth. Instagram is one of these examples.
The origin of Instagram was Burbn, a Check-in application created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. This was one more application to register where you had been and the only thing that gave it a differential value was that it added gamefication and the possibility of sharing geolocated photos. Still, I had a big problem: it was a complex app for most users.
This complexity of use continues to be the great handicap which many current applications face. Because, despite being more used to using apps of all kinds on mobile devices, if they are not intuitive, it is normal for them to end up abandoning them after a while and uninstalling them.
Systrom and Krieger realized what was happening to them in time and took the right step at the right time, they were left with what was really attractive: geolocated photos. So, after turning it around, Instagram was born. Since then and until now it has not stopped growing.
The application was officially launched in 2010 and within two months it had already reached one million registered users. After one year of life, ten million registered users. Although that exponential growth was going to be what would really surprise its creators. In 2012, Mark Zuckerberg paid a billion dollars by a company unknown to many, which only had thirteen employees and did not have a clear business model.
Still, Facebook paid and right now no one doubts that they made a very successful purchase. Leaving aside the undeniable rise of TikTok, Instagram is one of the fastest growing social networks. And it is not surprising, because if you are a brand or a user who wants to add value to their professional or personal image, it is almost vital to be there.
The most important milestones in Instagram history
Now that you know the origin of the popular social network, let's review the most important milestones since it was released on October 6, 2010.
The first million users
October 6, 2010 was when Instagram was officially launched and by December of that same year it had managed to reach one million users. And that was initially only available for iOS devices, it was an exclusive app for iPhone.
Ten million users and new logo
2011 was also a year with some important milestones for the company. In March they changed their logo and began to use one for which many users remember those beginnings: the "classic" logo of the application.
Later, in September, a new user record for the platform: 10 million users They used Instagram.
Facebook buys Instagram and the social network comes to Android
In April 2012 and as we mentioned, Facebook bought the company for a billion dollars and all of its employees, a fairly small and very talented team, joined the Zuckerberg Brand social network. Just a week before, the Android version of the social network had gone public.
When Instagram arrived on Android devices, the app achieved one million downloads in less than 24 hours, adding hundreds of thousands of users at once, who finally managed to stop this social network from being exclusive to Apple users.
From photo to video
In June 2013, Instagram added the possibility of publishing not only photos, but also video. Possibly one of the most important decisions seeing today the weight of this format and what it means for the network through the current reels or stories.
However, Instagram has never left photography aside. In mid-2013, Zuckerberg was already very clear that Instagram was the social network that would take over from Facebook. The network for young people, come on. Therefore, those from Menlo Park began to transform the app to make it a social network more similar to Facebook or the extinct Tuenti. It was in 2013 when tags were added to Instagram, allowing the people who appear in them to be marked in a photo. Later that same year, in December, Instagram Direct also appeared. Basically, the service was integrated as a messaging system on the platform itself. Even so, it had certain differences compared to any other chat, since Instagram Direct also allows you to send photos and videos as part of the chat, just as the Facebook messages app already did.
One hundred million people use Instagram
In December 2013, and demonstrating exponential growth, Instagram managed to reach 100 million users who used the platform to share all kinds of photos and videos. Around this time we were already beginning to see the first users who took the lead on this network, as well as celebrities who gave a great boost to their careers thanks to Instagram.
three hundred million users
In December 2014 Instagram was already an unstoppable steamroller and achieved 300 million users. Instagram had tripled its audience in a matter of a year, and Zuckerberg's were preparing to monetize the network. Instagram monetization would begin its deployment in 2015, as an extension of the Facebook ad system. Unlike other networks such as YouTube, Instagram did not opt ​​for a system of partners to enrich its users.
New video formats and the arrival of Boomerang
In 2015 Instagram was beginning to give a little more diversity to video formats by seeing how users were using this feature. So he began to let different aspect ratios could be used. Also, that same year Boomerang arrived, a fun way to capture moving images that would later become part of the Stories tools.
The redesign of Instagram, the Stories and the direct
2016, for its part, was marked by a redesign that affected both the application interface itself and its icon, as well as other aspects related to feed classification and other elements.
However, many may remember that year for the arrival of the stories and the direct ones. Especially the first ones, copied from Snapchat, were the most significant and powerful for the platform. Although during 2020 we saw that the direct ones gained prominence.
From 2016 onwards, Instagram was still the leading network among young people, but to remain interesting, it had to copy one by one all the peculiarities of the competitors that were emerging.
Instagram and the use of augmented reality
In 2017 Instagram added support for augmented reality through the filters of its stories. That and the possibility of adding music to them, expanding their possibilities.
The reels and the rivalry with TikTok
Instagram was able to beat Snapchat, but TikTok made it quite difficult for them from 2020. The growth of Instagram users slowed down, and many users chose to go to the competition, where the only form of publication is short videos. Instagram ended up copying the mechanics of TikTok with its reels. In essence, Reels are exactly the same type of Instagram post. Almost all the content that is uploaded to Instagram Reels are the same videos that users have previously uploaded to TikTok. However, Zuckerberg's move was very good: by uploading TikTok content to Instagram, many users are not tempted to create an account on the competing network. The move was also cloned by YouTube and its YouTube Shorts, also in the wake of the Chinese social network.
More than a photo feed
Since 2019, Instagram is in a period of maturity. The platform has been gaining new features that ensure that this network remains an Internet monster. Instagram has focused on businesses supporting their own stores within their ecosystem. However, they have also put a lot of effort into improving the experience for their users. Instagram has experimented and worked to create tools against bullying, a fairer moderation system, and a tightening of its rules to prevent abusive practices against members of this social network.
The importance of design and user experience
Of course, beyond the product that was Instagram, there is another interesting aspect in the evolution of this application and its success: its design and experience. In this sense there is a key figure: Ian Spalter . After working on projects like Nike and its Fuelband, he was in charge of redesigning the interface and a large part of the user experience.
In the chapter of Extended focused on the figure and work of the designer (of which we talked about in our compilation of the best documentaries on technology), you can see all this. So if you're interested in the topic of product and experience design, you need to see that chapter. After doing so you will see that no decision is taken lightly.
An example of this was the redesign of the new Instagram logo, the one that you now see as something normal but that at the time aroused criticism of all kinds. But those decisions later have a strong impact, such as the change of location and importance given to the number of followers, I like you, etc.
As stated in the documentary itself, the development of any product is something dynamic and alive. So much so that a new update is usually nothing more than a first step towards a final goal that goes much further.
The great rival of Instagram
Since the birth of said social network, there have been many rivals that it has had and that have not been able to fight it. Even Snapchat that could have hurt him to some extent was relegated to the background when Instagram copied the stories. However, with TikTok everything has been different.
The short video social network has not only stolen the attention of millions of Instagram users who now spend more time there than on the social network owned by Facebook, it has also made them pivot betting more towards video than maintaining that identity stamp which was for a long time the photographic feed.
So while Instagram still has a huge presence and a lot of potential, it's true that it can't sleep. Because TikTok could do you a lot of harm. And the same could happen if a new network appears that once again gives prominence to photography and not so much to video in the form of stories or Reels.