Archive for April, 2012

 

The War on Instagram

Posted on April 21st, 2012 by

In the past few weeks there has been a lot of talk about Instagram, the popular photosharing app brought to you by the innovative iPhone Application Developers over at Instagram, Inc.

Last week the company announced the app, previously exclusive to iPhone users, would now be available for download on Android. This news was not received well by iPhone users who felt the app lost its feeling of exclusivity. Shortly after that announcement, it was revealed that Instagram had been acquired by social media powerhouse, Facebook, for a whopping $1 billion. This deal also did not produce the warmest reception and even had users threatening to quit over the acquisition.

If you’re not familiar with Instagram, here’s a quick rundown of the app. Instagram is a photo sharing application for mobile phones. Users can create an account, take photos and share them tagged with key words for public or private viewing. It’s a whole social network based around images. The application offers several filters to help spruce up your photos a bit like Black and White, Sepia toned, blurring filters and more. It makes it super easy for people who may not be the most design savvy to make their photos look a little bit fancier.

So why is everybody up in arms about the recent changes to the company? Well in the case of the Android availability it seems to simply be a case of elitist iPhone users who want the app all to themselves. For those users upset about the Facebook acquisition, it gets a bit more complicated. There is a fear among users that Facebook will “ruin” Instagram. These are some of the biggest concerns surrounding the acquisition.

- User Privacy

Facebook has enough people on it’s back about its privacy policies as it stands. So what do they plan to do with all this new data coming in from users?

- Neglect

Will Instagram follow in the footsteps of Gowalla and Friendfeed? After Facebook acquired these companies, they essentially fell into obscurity. Facebook did nothing to improve or integrate these apps with their social network.

- Reduced quality

As if the inclusion of Androids lesser quality photos was enough to rile up Instagram users, imagine the backlash when users of all camera phones are able to upload their poor quality photos to the app.

What are your thoughts on the war on Instagram? Is Instagram doomed? Or will these new changes be a good thing? What do you think Facebook has in store for instagram? A custom Facebook app? New options for sharing and editing photos on Facebook? Let us know what you think below!

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How Important is a Facebook Like, Really?

Posted on April 2nd, 2012 by

Facebook Thumbs UPA ‘Like’ is the simplest form of engagement on Facebook. All it requires is the click of one button. To marketers, a ‘Like’ can mean the world. But what is it really worth?

To answer this, we must think about what causes someone to ‘Like’ something in the first place. The answer seems kind of obvious doesn’t it. They ‘Like’ it because they, well, like it. They might agree with what you are saying. It may be an exciting piece of news that they like. Maybe it’s something they want to know more about. This post from WordPress Website Builder lists reasons such as Free Stuff, Contests, Humor, and Social Causes as other reasons why someone may like your Facebook post. For example, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon recently asked for the assistance of ConvoSpark’s Facebook application development team to develop their first ever Facebook presence. People “liked” their fun application and they surpassed 16,000 likes in its first month. In this case their fun application was a probable reason for liking the page, but whatever their reason was, we can be sure of one thing: They are paying attention!

But just like fans and Twitter followers it’s important not to get caught up in the numbers. Sure a ‘Like’ means they read your post, but it doesn’t mean they read all your posts. It doesn’t mean they are a loyal fan, it means they saw something attractive about your page and decided to acknowledge it. After all, a ‘Like’ is not a binding contract.

What we’re really looking for is continued engagement. Does that person leave a comment? Do they stay a fan after the contest or promotion is over? Do they purchase or express further interest in your product or service? Are you continuing to provide them with great content that they ‘Like?’

Don’t dash your hopes just yet. A ‘Like’ is not worthless. But it’s not about who ‘Likes’ your post. It’s about what they do with it that matters!

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