How made instagram

What It Is, Its History, and How the Popular App Works

The story of Instagram’s explosive rise reads like a Silicon Valley fairy tale, with the company gaining staggering momentum within just a few short months. The photo and video-sharing social media application took only eight weeks for software engineers to develop before it was launched on Apple’s mobile operating system in October 2010. In less than two years, Facebook (META) had acquired the company for $1 billion in cash and stock.

But, like all good tales, the process involved many twists and turns, failures and successes, conflicts and synergies, and a dose of fortuitous happenstance.

Key Takeaways

Instagram is a photo and video-sharing social media application that was launched in 2010 by Kevin Systrom.
The first prototype of Instagram was a web app called Burbn, which was inspired by Systrom's love of fine whiskeys and bourbons.
The Instagram app was launched on Oct. 6, 2010, and racked up 25,000 users in one day.
From the beginning, the primary focus of the app was to feature photographs, specifically those taken on mobile devices.
Just prior to Instagram's initial public offering (IPO) in 2012, Facebook acquired the company for $1 billion in cash and stock.

History of Instagram

In 2009, Kevin Systrom, a 27-year-old Stanford University graduate, was working at Nextstop, a travel recommendations startup. Systrom had previously worked at Google (GOOG) as a corporate development associate and interned at Odeo, a company that would later evolve into Twitter (TWTR).

While Systrom had no formal training in computer science, he learned to code on nights and weekends while working at Nextstop. He eventually built a prototype of a web app called Burbn, which was inspired by his taste for fine whiskeys and bourbons. The Burbn app allowed users to check in, post their plans, and share photos. Although at the time, location-based check-in apps were very popular, the photo-sharing feature of Burbn was very unique.

Venture Capital Funding

A crucial turning point came in March 2010 when Systrom attended a party for Hunch, a startup based in Silicon Valley. At the party, Systrom met two venture capitalists from Baseline Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. After showing them the prototype of his app, they decided to meet for coffee to discuss it further. After their first meeting, Systrom decided to quit his job and focus on Burbn. Within two weeks, he had raised $500,000 in seed funding from both Baseline Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz to further develop his entrepreneurial venture.

This seed funding allowed Systrom to start building a team of people to support his venture; the first to join him was 25-year-old Mike Krieger. Also a Stanford graduate, Krieger had previously worked as an engineer and user-experience designer at the social media platform Meebo. The two knew each other from their time as students at Stanford.

Pivot to a Photo-Sharing Application

After Krieger joined, the two reassessed Burbn and decided to focus primarily on one thing: photographs specifically taken on mobile devices. They carefully studied leading apps in the photography category at that time. For Krieger and Systrom, the Hipstamatic app stood out to them because it was popular and had interesting features that you could apply to photographs, such as filters. However, it lacked social media-sharing capabilities; Systrom and Krieger saw potential in building an app that bridged Hipstamatic and a social media platform like Facebook.

They took a step backward and stripped Burbn down to its photo, commenting, and "liking" functions. It was at that time that they renamed their app Instagram, combining the words instant and telegram. They also began focusing on improving the photo-sharing experience. Their intention for the app was that it would be minimalist and require as few actions as possible from the user. After eight weeks of fine-tuning the app, they gave it to friends to beta test and evaluate its performance. After resolving some errors in the software, they brought it to launch.

Launch of the iOS App

The Instagram app was launched on Oct. 6, 2010, and racked up 25,000 users in one day. At the end of the first week, Instagram had been downloaded 100,000 times, and by mid-December, the number of users had reached one million. The timing of the app’s release ended up being fortuitous because the iPhone 4– featuring an improved camera–had launched just a few months earlier, in June 2010.

Series A Funding

After the rapid rise in Instagram's user base, more investors became interested in the company. In February 2011, Instagram raised $7 million in a Series A funding round. One of their investors was Benchmark Capital, which valued the company at around $25 million. In addition to institutional investors, the company attracted the attention of other leading companies in the social media technology industry, including Twitter and Facebook.

Although this new round of financing gave Systrom and Krieger the opportunity to hire more people, the founders decided to keep the company really small, with barely a dozen employees.

Systrom knew Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter, from his time as an intern at Odeo. Dorsey expressed a strong interest in the company and pursued the idea of acquiring Instagram. Twitter reportedly made a formal offer of around $500 million in stock, but Systrom declined the offer.

Facebook Acquires Instagram

By March 2012, the app’s user base had grown to approximately 27 million users. In April 2012, Instagram was released for Android phones and was downloaded more than one million times in less than one day. At the time, the company was also close to receiving a new round of funding at a valuation of $500 million. Systrom and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had become acquainted through events held at Stanford, and the two had been in communication during the beginning of Instagram's rapid rise in popularity.

In April 2012, Facebook (now Meta) made an offer to purchase Instagram for about $1 billion in cash and stock; a key provision was that the company would remain independently managed. Shortly thereafter and just prior to its initial public offering (IPO), Facebook moved forward and acquired the company for $1 billion in cash and stock.

Instagram made a limited-feature website interface available in November 2012. In June 2014, the company introduced an app for the Amazon Fire device, and finally, in 2016, it created an app that made it compatible with Microsoft Windows tablets and computers.

Terms of Service Controversy

Instagram hit a bump in the road in December 2012 after updating its terms of service (TOS). This update effectively granted Instagram the right to sell users' photos to third parties without notification or compensation. The move drew immediate criticism from privacy advocates and many of the app's users; some users responded by deleting their accounts. Instagram eventually retracted the controversial terms.

Newer Features Added to the App

Although Instagram has a variety of features, most basically, the app's interface allows individuals who have created a free account to upload media–both photos and videos. Users can then edit the media they upload with filters and organize them with location information and hashtags (a word or phrase preceded by a hash sign that is used primarily on social media platforms to identify posts about a specific topic). Users can make their profiles public or private; the difference is that with a public profile, a user's photos/videos are viewable by every other Instagram user, whereas with a private profile, users can approve who they want to be able to view their posts.

Instagram users can browse other users' photos and videos by searching for hashtags and locations. They can also scroll through an aggregation of trending content and interact with other users' photos and videos by clicking on buttons that allow them to "like" a post or add a text comment to a post. When a user "follows" another user, it means that they are adding that user's photos and videos to their feed.

The first version of the Instagram app only allowed users to display their media in a square aspect ratio (an aspect ratio is a proportional relationship between an image's width and height). For a square aspect ratio, an image's height and width are the same. This meant that Instagram users could only post media that matched the 640-pixel width of the iPhone 4 at that time (in 2010). In 2015, this feature changed and users could upload media that was larger (up to 1080 pixels).

Since it was first launched, Instagram has also added a messaging feature and the capability for users to include multiple images or videos within the same post.

One of the app's most popular features is called "Instagram Stories." With this feature, users can post photos and videos to a separate feed of content within the app. These types of posts are viewable by other users for 24 hours after the time of the original posting. According to Instagram, 500 million people use Instagram Stories every day as of 2022.

When Was Instagram Launched?

Instagram was launched on Oct. 6, 2010, where it was initially only available for iOS. The app reached one million registered users after just two months, and a billion users by 2018.

Why Was Instagram Originally Created?

Instagram was originally a photo-sharing app that featured several filters and enhancements for photos taken on a mobile phone. It combined features from the then-popular app FourSquare, whereby users could tag photos with people, locations, or other information to share Its creator, Kevin Systrom, has said he developed the app due to his love of photography.

How Did Instagram Become So Successful?

Instagram's focus on photo sharing and commenting led to a strong degree of user engagement and word-of-mouth marketing as users encouraged their friends and family to join. Its simple interface and popular features also made it widely liked. This combination led users, who notoriously have short attention spans, to scroll through many posts and become addicted, in a sense, to using the app.

The Bottom Line

While user growth has continued to increase since the Meta (formerly Facebook) acquisition, Instagram has made a relatively small number of changes to the app, sticking to its simple and intuitive user experience and core focus on photo- and video-sharing capabilities. Despite the high price tag of its acquisition, the company appears to have been a savvy investment on the part of Meta.

In 2019, the market research company eMarketer predicted that Instagram would reach 117.2 million users by 2021. In 2018, Instagram was the second-most downloaded free app on the Apple app store (second only to YouTube's free mobile-device app). By 2020, more than 1 billion people used Instagram every month.

Life of Kevin Systrom, the Founder and Former CEO of Instagram

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Instagram founder Kevin Systrom. Chris Saucedo/Getty Images for SXSW

Kevin Systrom launched Instagram in 2010. The Massachusetts-born Stanford University grad created the app because of his love of photography.
The photo-sharing app has since become a global sensation, amassing over a billion users and making Systrom a billionaire.
Systrom led Instagram until 2018, when he suddenly departed Facebook, Instagram's parent company.
The New York Times reported last month that Systrom was recently approached to take over as CEO of TikTok.
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Instagram grew out of Kevin Systrom's love of photography.

The app, which was founded 10 years ago this month and has become one of the most popular social media apps in the world, was Systrom's baby until, in 2018, he and cofounder Mike Krieger abruptly left the company.

The news came following months of turmoil and scandals for Facebook, Instagram's parent company since 2012. (There had reportedly been tension between the founders and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as well.)

But before Systrom was Instagram's billionaire founder, he was a photographer, Google employee, and bourbon enthusiast. Here's how Systrom got his start and built Instagram into what it is today.

Systrom was born in Holliston, Massachusetts, a wealthy suburb of Boston. His father worked as a human resources executive, while his mother worked in tech — first at Monster and Swapit, and later at Zipcar.

f11photo/Shutterstock

Source: The Guardian, Fortune

As a teenager, Systrom was obsessed with record collecting and deejaying.

While still in high school, he used to have his friends sneak him into clubs in the Boston area to open for established DJs.

Shutterstock

Source: Fortune

Systrom applied early decision to Stanford University. He had planned to study computer science, but once he arrived, decided to switch majors to management science and engineering.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Source: Fortune

Systrom soon became interested in photography, and built a photo sharing site for his fraternity brothers in his spare time.

During his junior year, he spent a semester in Florence to study photography.

A Holga camera. Daniel Goodman / Business Insider

It was in Florence that Systrom stumbled upon the aesthetic that would define Instagram in the early days: one of his professors showed him a cheap film camera called a Holga, which takes hip, vintage-looking photos.

Source: Fortune

Right before his senior year at Stanford, Systrom interned at a podcasting company called Odeo.

Odeo was founded by Evan Williams, who went on to create Twitter. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was also working at Odeo at the time, and he and Systrom became good friends.

Jack Dorsey, left, and Evan Williams Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Source: Fortune

In 2004, while Systrom was still in college, Mark Zuckerberg tried to recruit him to come work at Facebook.

Systrom turned him down.

Robert Galbraith/Reuters

"Unfortunately, I decided I wanted to stay in school, and that's one of those decisions that I look back at — I would've loved to have been part of Facebook's growth over the years, but it was the first time I met those guys," Systrom told Fast Company in 2011. "It was certainly the harbinger for what was to come in my future."

After graduation, Systrom was offered a job at Google. For the first two years out of school, Systrom handled marketing for Gmail and Google Calendar. He later switched to Google's M&A division.

Google's Mountain View headquarters.

Stephen Lam/Reuters

Source: Fortune

Venture capitalist Steve Anderson of Baseline Ventures decided to invest $250,000 in Burbn, even though it was still in its early stages. Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz contributed another $250,000 in the same round.

Marc Andreessen, left, and Ben Horowitz.

Source: Fortune

Soon after, Systrom brought on Mike Krieger as a cofounder. Krieger also graduated from Stanford, just two years behind Systrom. Before joining Systrom, Krieger was working on his own app called Meebo.

Instagram cofounders Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom attend the 16th Annual Webby Awards at Hammerstein Ballroom on May 21, 2012 in New York City.

Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images

Source: Fortune

Soon after Krieger joined, the pair decided to pivot Burbn, eliminating most of the features to focus solely on photo sharing. But the real "a-ha moment" came while Systrom was on the beach with his now-wife, Nicole.

REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

Here's how Systrom explained it to the Telegraph:

We were walking along the beach and I said that we needed something to help us [the company] stand out. Nicole then said, "Well, I don't want to take photos, because my photos don't look good. They're not as good as your other friend Greg's."

He was also using the early product [Burbn]. I told her that was because Greg used filter apps. So she just said, "Well, you should probably have filters then."

Systrom then sat down to make a filter. The first one, called X-Pro II, it still used in the app today.

Systrom and Krieger officially changed the name to Instagram in October 2010. The name is a combination of "instant" and "telegram." When the app went live, more than 25,000 people downloaded it in the first 24 hours, crashing Instagram's servers.

A screen shot of the Instagram app. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Source: Fortune, Business Insider

A month after launching, Instagram had grown to 1 million users.

Nine months later, that was up to 7 million.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

Source: Business Insider, Fortune

In April 2012, Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion. Going into the deal, Systrom owned 40% of Instagram.

Facebook

Source: Business Insider, Forbes

He also takes the time to help friends set up Instagram accounts — like he did in 2016, when he flew to the Vatican to personally help Pope Francis create an account.

Getty Images

Source: Business Insider

On the Halloween of 2015, Systrom married Nicole Schuetz, a fellow Stanford grad and the founder of clean energy investment firm Sutro Energy Group. The couple now has a daughter together, Freya.

The Systroms in 2015. David M.

Benett/Getty Images for Instagram

Source: Vogue

The Systroms also share a golden retriever named Dolly. Dolly has her own Instagram account, with more than 18,000 followers, though it's not clear where she is these days — Dolly's account hasn't been active since August 2018.

Morning cuddles
A post shared by @ dolly on Nov 4, 2017 at 9:20am PDTNov 4, 2017 at 9:20am PDT

Today, Instagram is one of the most-used apps and services in the world. In June 2018, the app hit 1 billion active users.

Reuters Pictures/Lucas Jackson

Source: Business Insider

Despite Instagram's success, however, there were reportedly growing tensions with Zuckerberg "over the direction of the product." In September 2018, Systrom and Krieger abruptly announced that they were stepping down as CEO and CTO, respectively.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

Systrom said in a statement that they both plan "on taking some time off to explore our curiosity and creativity again. "

Since Systrom's departure, Adam Mosseri has stepped in to lead Instagram.

Source: Business Insider, Business Insider

After leaving Instagram, Systrom and Krieger kept a low profile, though they did attend the SXSW conference in 2019. Systrom has been quiet on Instagram, too: he has since deleted all the photos he posted on the app over the past two years or so.

Chris Saucedo/Getty Images for SXSW

Source: Business Insider

As the coronavirus outbreak spread in the US, Systrom and Krieger teamed up on a new project called rt.live, a coronavirus tracker that estimates the rate of transmission in each US state.

An example of what rt.live looks like. Rt.live

Source: CNBC

In September 2020, amid the ongoing saga surrounding TikTok, The New York Times reported that the company had approached Systrom about taking the helm, which has been vacant since August. Taking over at TikTok would put Systrom in direct competition with Zuckerberg once again.

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

Source: The New York Times, Business Insider

How to make your Instagram account private?

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Instagram Features

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Note. If you're under 18 when you sign up for Instagram, you can choose between a public account and a private account. However, the default will be Private.

If you are over 18, your Instagram account is public by default, but you can make it private at any time. Learn more about how to make your account private.

Learn more about the differences between public and private accounts.

How to make an account closed?

Instagram app for Android and iPhone

Tap the or icon on your profile picture in the lower right corner of the screen to go to your profile.

Tap the icon in the upper right corner of the screen and select Settings.

Select Privacy.

Click the Closed account radio button to make your account private.

Instagram Lite app for Android

Tap the or icon on your profile picture in the bottom right corner of the screen to go to your profile.

Tap the icon in the upper right corner of the screen and select Settings.

Click Account Privacy.

Click the Closed account radio button to make your account private.

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The account associated with the business profile cannot be made private. If you want to make your business account private, make it personal first.

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Quality profile and content - how to start your Instagram business?

Anna Kuznetsova

Updated by July 28, 2022

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Content:

Creating an Instagram business account: name, avatar, biography
How to take beautiful photos for Instagram using a smartphone
Best apps for photo editing and delayed posts

Instagram is a popular social network where the main content is photography and video.
Cafes, restaurants, boutiques, flower shops and all kinds of activities that can be “beautifully photographed” have long been cutting money from a single Instagram account.

This is not only an opportunity to share photos and videos with friends, but also a powerful tool to support brand loyalty, the ability to be closer to customers, know their interests and attitudes towards your product.

It is not necessary to rent an office, equip a store or have an Internet site to start a business, sell goods or provide services. A systematic approach, a little creativity and you can earn money with just one page on Instagram.

Before you start promotion, you need to do the preparatory work. Competent filling determines whether your buyer will find the product or service of interest on your page.

Let's start with the creation of a "skeleton" for the Instagram online store.

1. Creating an Instagram account: avatar, name, biography

Getting to know your account begins with a description of the page and a photo in a small circle: a catchy avatar, page title, a description of what you do and how to contact you.

How to come up with a name for an Instagram business account

Most likely, you have already come up with names for your business. Remember that on Instagram, the profile name is always written in Latin.

The name is the brand name, semantic power in one or two words; it is what describes your activity; what the user will score in the search to buy your product.

Need ideas for a company name? Read the article How to choose the right company name.

It is best if the nickname matches the names of the company and does not contain unnecessary words and commercial messages (official, the best, shop, etc. ). It is also good if you have one nickname for all social networks. It will be easier for subscribers to remember or find you:

All social networks are consonant with the name of the Lamoda online store itself.

Avatar

Do not neglect the principle of “dress by clothes”.
Avatar is the main recognition attribute of your profile. The person by which you will be met, remembered and fall in love. The picture should be clear and not contain unnecessary details:

In the example above, the manicure studio adheres to the principle of simplicity and minimalism: picture and text on a white background.

You can't fit a lot of elements in a small size photo, it will look out of place and incomprehensible to the subscriber:

The flower shop uses an iconic logo, but the picture is cluttered and the font is chosen so that it is difficult to read the name. A photo as an avatar for a business account is also not the best option: the small size does not allow recognizing details or faces.

What then? How to look aesthetically pleasing for a subscriber at the first meeting, not to be full of your already established subscribers in the list, while perfectly conveying the essence of the activity?

The company logo is fine, but with a slight modification. The thing is, for the logo to look great on the profile page, it needs to fit nicely into the circle. How to do it?

Can be made by hand using graphic programs. Or create with Logaster and download a ready-made logo for Instagram. The required logo size is 110px x 110px.

How to create a logo online? The Logaster service will help you choose a logo from a dozen options for the name of your business:

You can change the font, color, arrangement of elements to create a unique and adaptive logo for Instagram:

After editing, save the created logo.

An avatar that is pretty in every sense should contain information that the subscriber needs. After all, it is by the description that a person will determine whether he is interested in your activity.

How to fill in your Instagram profile information:

Add or edit this information by clicking the "Edit Profile" button at the top of the page. You need to clearly understand what exactly is important for a person to see on the page he is interested in: and provide this information in the description (products or services of the company, address, slogan, etc.).

1. Profile picture;
2. Biography;
3. Phone number;
4. Email;
5. Geodata.

Instagram page descriptions

Research shows that we remember 20% of what we read and 80% of what we see. But as information develops, people stop perceiving everything superfluous. Even if you have placed important information between the lines, a person can simply scroll through it. You have 5 seconds to grab the attention of a potential customer who has landed on your page for the first time.

Make sure that the required information is filled in the profile:

company name;
a brief description of what you are doing;
contacts;
coordinates;
link to the site.

If even before creating a profile you figure out how to correctly fill in the necessary information, then upon completion, you can safely forget about the need to update your biography or contacts. What certainly can not be said about the content itself. Here you need to always be in trend and be creative. Since photography is something that must be liked by potential customers of your business.

2. How to take good photos for Instagram using smartphone

All the work done before will be appreciated and effective with good content on your page. In order to create it, it is not necessary to be a photographer, have expensive photographic equipment or contact professionals.

Here it is enough to know 3 basic rules of photo content:
1. Use a smartphone with a good camera;
2. Take pictures in daylight;
3. Always use the same photo editing filters to create a unified account style (we'll also talk about mobile photo editing apps).

Decide what mood the profile conveys to your reader: calmness - pastel colors, minimalism (suitable for textile stores, children's clothing, etc.) or rich colors - energy, expression. To make the photos in the profiles harmonize with each other, place light, dark or photos with color accents in a checkerboard pattern:

Of course, this is not necessary and creating your own unique profile will be better than generally accepted templates. But if you are just starting out and there are no ideas yet, you can use this one.

Remember that a new user always pays attention to the profile as a whole, and not to individual pictures. And your subscriber is in the photo in the feed. Make sure to keep both of you interested.

3. The best applications for photo editing and delayed publications:

VSCO is a good set of ready-made filters. Choose the one that best suits your product. Experiment with multiple photos and filters. Do they harmonize with each other?

Download VSCO on iOS

Download VSCO on Android

Lightroom . Helps create a unified white balance on your Instagram profile.

Download Lightroom for iOS

Download Lightroom for Android

Of course, the program has much more potential, we advise you to study it to create your stylized account.

Snapseed . The program will help create an exposure or highlight the accents in the photo.

Download Snapseed for iOS

Download Snapseed for Android

UNUM . Create profile photo arrangements before they are published:

Download UNUM for Android

Download UNUM for iOS

Photos taken and processed. But this is half the work on the post. The next step is a description or text.

Text in posts

Decide on the purpose of your presence on Instagram: is this a platform from which you want to sell, or a customer connection tool (suitable for existing stores. Here Instagram is not the main source of sales, but in the future it can increase them significantly).

There is an option to hire a copywriter or SMM specialist. But the owner may well manage the business account. After all, no one knows your product, its properties and capabilities as well as you.

In fact, there is nothing difficult in writing texts for product posts. But still, always “try on” the text for yourself: what a person should think after reading and, most importantly, what to do.

In the text, give real benefits to the person, not characteristics that may not always be clear. For example: you sell portable batteries for phones. In the description you write 1000 mAh. But not always people know how much it is. And if you write: “1000 mAh - up to 5 phone recharges” - a potential client will evaluate whether the product suits him and save him from unnecessary thoughts. Here he sees the value of the battery and its application to his needs.

A post should always contain a call to action: order, buy, call.

Avoid template words and applications in the text: “best quality”, “lowest price”, “unique production”, “reliable service”.
Replace them with the actual properties of the product:

“best quality” for “80% of the composition is steel”;
“low price” - always write the real price, comparing yourself with competitors;
"unique production" - we make orders based on your preferences;
“reliable service” - 5 year warranty.

Without water, with real use cases.
In posts, try to balance between commodity posts and useful content. So you will look like an expert in the eyes of the reader, become an authority, build a trusting relationship.

Hashtags

Hashtags for the page are necessary for easy search of the necessary posts.

Alternatively, place a post with your categories in the profile header with an active link (instead of the company's website):

Create your own unique hashtags:

These work well for a range of products. For example, the tag #cupcake_Instabakery: the subscriber will be able to quickly find all the cupcakes you offer.

Geolocation

Decide where you want to sell your goods: if it is outside the city and you have an offline store, geolocation is definitely needed.

But if you go to an audience outside your region, it's better not to set the location. This can scare away potential consumers. They will think that it is far away and will not pay attention to the product. Even if he interested them.

Forget manually posting every day!
All successful pages automatically post prepared content.