Instagram is a popular photo-sharing and social networking service. The mobile app (application) allows people to instantly post (upload) pictures and short videos to the service. The app’s owners, Meta Platforms, Inc., claim that more than a billion people use Instagram. Meta Platforms also owns Facebook.
Instagram was founded in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, who met when they were students at Stanford University in California. When Instagram first appeared as a smartphone app, it was downloaded 100,000 times in the first week. Smartphones are cell phones that also work as small computers. Instagram began using hashtags in 2011 to connect an image to a topic of interest and make it searchable. A hashtag is a word or phrase run together without any spaces and preceded by the hash symbol, or pound sign (#). Advertisers and celebrities started posting their own pictures and videos to the site. People using Instagram could follow their favorite celebrities through the pictures they posted, and advertisers could chart the popularity of their ads. The Instagram app runs on both Apple and Android products.
Of the many photo-sharing services available online, Instagram has become the most popular. Pictures are commonly presented in a square format. They may be modified with the use of borders and filters that enhance the visual quality of the image, making the pictures appear as though they have been professionally produced. Users can then write a caption and send the photo or video to their followers. Today, some Instagram photos and videos have attained consideration as contemporary art.
Since Instagram’s initial release, its abilities have expanded beyond photo sharing. Users can also use the app for sending instant messages and shopping online.
Facebook, Inc. (now Meta Platforms, Inc.) acquired Instagram in 2012. At the time, most people accessed Facebook through their computer. The Instagram purchase was intended to help Facebook reach users of mobile devices, attract younger users, and increase the amount of advertising seen by people using mobile phones.
The owners of Instagram have continued to develop related apps. Most are related to photo sharing—for example, apps that allow people to take professional-looking pictures and videos with inexpensive consumer-grade cameras. Threads, an app released in 2023, allows Instagram users to post text, rather than images or videos. Threads was designed to resemble the popular social networking app called X (formerly called Twitter). Millions of people downloaded Threads within a few hours after its release.
