Way back in April, nearly two months ago, Facebook kind of surprised everybody and announced it was buying Instagram, the popular photo-sharing social network. But why? Maybe yesterday’s announcement of the newest Facebook app, Camera, is the answer. Facebook says the app will help people quickly manage and upload pictures to their pages. The app will let you upload higher resolution snaps as well as add your own Instagram-like filters. From the New York Times:
It might seem strange for Facebook to release a camera application with built-in filters just weeks after announcing plans to buy Instagram, the social photo app. But Facebook Camera is aimed at a different audience. Instagram has 40 million users, while Facebook has 900 million. This leaves a large swath of people who are not on Instagram but are actively taking photos and uploading them to Facebook. The filters in Facebook Camera were developed by Facebook and are not borrowed from Instagram.
So now what does Instagram have that Facebook doesn’t (and, yes I know the latter owns the former)? Android, for starters. Instagram launched its Android version a few weeks back with over a million downloads, but the new Camera app is only available in the Apple App Store.
Not only is it cashing in on the Instagram cache, but methinks it’s trying to look a little like Pinterest, the rising social network star that uses pictures to do most of the talking. And let’s not forget this is all happening on people’s mobile devices, the biggest sector that Facebook needs to reach, if it wants to keep its new stockholders happy.
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