6 Comments so far

1. Sam on February 8, 2012 11:41 am

   It’s easy to assume an app like instagram is a simple idea after its success, but I doubt even the creators assumed it would be a success to the extent that it is. It all boils down to being released at the right time. As the article said, the iphone4 was brand new, and it brought a better camera and a better screen than its predecessor, because of this people wanted to use it for photos more. The added bonus of celebrities using the app obviously helped quite a bit as well.

2. Erin on February 8, 2012 11:43 am

   I really enjoy the Instagram app but I feel that it has a lot more it needs to offer and develop. I cannot believe how tiny the company is that’s working on this app and I know that they have a lot more that they plan on doing with it. I just hope that they don’t take too long with their development before another company picks up their idea and makes it even better before they’ve had an opportunity to improve.

3. Christopher Moody on February 8, 2012 11:46 am

   “Justin Bieber is a scaling problem.”

   Only in Silicon Valley will that phrase be issued with such matter-of-fact annoyance. The way Instagram foresaw scaling problems and managed to head them off at the pass is amazing. They learned a heck of a lot from the early days of Twitter, and not what the rest of us learned. I always used the fail whale of an example of how to fail better— “If you’re going to fail, at least fail with a somewhat affable mascot”. These guys looked at it differently. The fail whale, cute as it is, was still a problem, and instead of saying “How do we make sure users stay when the service fails?” the guys at Instagram said “How do we make sure our service doesn’t fail?” Seems obvious, really.

4. Erik Elmquist on February 8, 2012 11:49 am

   I think it is important to notice, that while the success story of Instagram seem very simple, the founders of it both had various jobs and various upstarts that didn’t work out. But even when their earlier endeavors didn’t work out they kept on trying, and in the end came out with something great. I do not believe that this is a simple susses story for the founders of Instagram, but that it is a good end to their story which started before they ever built Instagram.

5. Serita on February 8, 2012 11:51 am

   I never really realized how much work goes in behind apps. I always get mad when there is one small glitch in an app I find or if the interface is confusing or hard to use. I complain about it in the comments, hoping that they will send me an update the next day with the problem fixed. If only it were that simple. I can’t promise I will never complain about an app again, but now that I have a little more knowledge of all the work that goes in behind the scenes, I can promise I wont be so mean about it.

6. Carol on February 8, 2012 11:54 am

   Instagram is an interesting idea as it reflects the idea of commutative visual social network branching off from just a verbal social network, such as twitter. Because this had been seen before in different forms, example users can post photos to facebook or tumblr, the founders were not expecting it to take off as quickly. I can see where the problems would now rise, as it is only used for a mobile device. Now that it has gained much recognition users are expecting it to grow much quicker, putting a lot of pressure on the founders. Especially when the company is so small, and not planning on hiring more employees.