Geez! It's just posting pictures with some filters. Wild!
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-buys-instagram-alarming-users-two/story?id=16107176#.T4RRQFHDdJo (http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-buys-instagram-alarming-users-two/story?id=16107176#.T4RRQFHDdJo)
It's not the functionality, it's the userbase :) I can also see a very logical integration of Instagram's functionality into Facebook photo sharing. Who knows, soon enough we may be able to do basic photo touch ups (red eye reduction and the like) right on Facebook.
Oh, I get why it's worth what it is but I still am stating to feel that in a few years these purchases are going to maybe not seem like the best idea. People are very fickle with App's and so on.
Joe - you need to write that billion dollar app soon! :)
Quote from: Rico on April 10, 2012, 08:37:28 AM
Oh, I get why it's worth what it is but I still am stating to feel that in a few years these purchases are going to maybe not seem like the best idea. People are very fickle with App's and so on.
x2, this is starting to feel like the late '90's internet valuation bubble all over again. This deal is being VERY heavily scrutinized by Wall Street, I can tell you that.
I also thought the 1Bil price tag on this was a bit high, considering it doesn't generate any revenue atm. Between this and Draw Something getting purchased by Zynga, these companies sure seem buy-happy. It makes me wonder if FB is concerned with losing users....
It will be curious to see how many users leave over this...I'm watching warily, but beyond that this doesn't affect me (because I'm already on FB blegh). I am disappointed that Instagram sold to Facebook, but also get that the CEO was just offered a billion dollars and considering he probably didn't have a good idea on generating revenue, this was as good as any idea to do it. But I can understand why some people are outraged about it too.
King
Well, no one is outraged. FaceBook can use it's cash however it wants. And this was a great move by Instagram for the companies employees and original founders. What is being looked at in a critical manner is the valuation and if it's warranted and who might be next. What exactly are you "watching warily"? How does this impact you personally? :blink
I just hope they don't integrate it too tightly with Facebook. No doubt they will have a "log in wi Facebook" option but I hope it retains some semblance of independence.
I'm convinced that the high value pertains to the user base and huge amount of personal data that Facebook gets with the deal. That's where the money is.
There are great examples of big boys taking over start ups and crippling them or just plain buying them to shut them down. Google and Sage TV springs to mind. I think this is the worry that users have.
Personally I'm a fan of independent developers and software over huge multi billion dollar corporations as I feel they are more in tune with what their customers want as opposed to giving them what their business strategies dictate but I guess if I was instagram I'd have taken the money too. It's just too much money to turn down.
Quote from: Bryancd on April 10, 2012, 12:03:36 PM
Well, no one is outraged. FaceBook can use it's cash however it wants. And this was a great move by Instagram for the companies employees and original founders. What is being looked at in a critical manner is the valuation and if it's warranted and who might be next. What exactly are you "watching warily"? How does this impact you personally? :blink
Umm, according to the many angry comments I've *sorta* read, there are plenty of people angry with Instagram, unless you meant here on the forum. There are people leaving, its just a question of how many at the moment.
Eh, ok, warily was too strong a word. Just making sure the service doesn't go downhill like I figure it will. Most startups that get taken over have their quality product destroyed over time. Its happened before and it'll happen again. I use Instagram so whatever changes there will affect me.
I'm not talking about Wall Street or the vaulation if that's what your talking.
King
Not sure WHY folks would bail out on Instagram? Kind of stupid if you ask me. It's a, fun program. Just because a big company bought them out makes them "evil, sell-outs?" C'mon! Really. If someone came along and offered me a BILLION dollars for my company, pretty sure I'd sell... :)
Quote from: QuadShot on April 10, 2012, 01:33:15 PM
Not sure WHY folks would bail out on Instagram? Kind of stupid if you ask me. It's a, fun program. Just because a big company bought them out makes them "evil, sell-outs?" C'mon! Really. If someone came along and offered me a BILLION dollars for my company, pretty sure I'd sell... :)
Some People vehemently hate Facebook. They don't want anything to do with them so to have Instagram, a social network in its own right, get taken over by FB caused them to leave. Its not like FB has always been pro-consumer with some of its privacy policies.
King
Silliness King, pure and simple.
I can easily see why people would dump Instagram if Facebook buys them. Like Tim says, many people don't want to do Facebook - for a variety of reasons. And if Instagram becomes pretty much a part of Facebook, that will drive some people away. Of course the other side is it will also bring some new people to Instagram too.
You guys understand that Instagram doesn't give a rats butt if some people dump them or are mad. They just made a fortune with their product and sold it to the single largest and currently dominant social media site the world. There job is done, off to innovate some more.
Of course we understand that Bryan. I was speaking from the perspective of the users and Facebook.
Unless FaceBook drastically changes Instagram, the cross-feeding of posts into FaceBook can be turned off, just like with Twitter. So...if they don't want to be part of FaceBook, don't see why they would have to. I'm sticking with Instagram. I think it's fun..
http://www.webpronews.com/facebook-search-engine-2012-03 (http://www.webpronews.com/facebook-search-engine-2012-03)
Like my mom says. Some people are just born dumb. I mean it takes a brass pair to complain about something that you are getting for free that is done by people that actually need to feed their families and get paid for their work.
But I thought the internet was a God given right! ;) I too get amused when people get all upset of stuff they get for free and use all the time and then develop a misplaced sense of ownership. Instagram is a business looking to create profit for those who created it. Done deal. FaceBook, for the moment, has become so huge and ubiquitous that the idea that some users who may get upset about their acquisition and or ownership of Instagram is of zero consequence to them. It's like Apple, they are the only game in town until they f'up, which can certainly happen anytime, just not this time.
Now, do I think FB way over paid? Maybe and only time and their future growth and future equity valuation will tell. Perhaps they felt they needed to make this acquisition before a competitor could and they were a motivated buyer. That is likely the case.
I don't use Instagram a lot - or even Facebook for that matter. If they both went away tomorrow or if the whole planet was using them it wouldn't matter much to me. But free or not, my comments have just been my perceptions based on the fleeting nature of some of these apps that people use. If you guys don't really think that these companies respond to user opinions and comments then I think you are incorrect. These companies make money off the people that use these services. They have to at some point or maybe you can explain to me how they will continue to stay in business? Facebook obviously saw a way to tap into a user base of data and information. "Oh look, Bryan posts pictures of bikes - he must be a cyclist. Let's shoot him some ads for bikes." Like I said earlier in this thread I'm really starting to think some of these companies are operating on a dangerous house of cards that could tumble down very easily if people move away from their products - "free or not."
Quote from: Rico on April 10, 2012, 05:13:48 PM
I don't use Instagram a lot - or even Facebook for that matter. If they both went away tomorrow or if the whole planet was using them it wouldn't matter much to me. But free or not, my comments have just been my perceptions based on the fleeting nature of some of these apps that people use. If you guys don't really think that these companies respond to user opinions and comments then I think you are incorrect. These companies make money off the people that use these services. They have to at some point or maybe you can explain to me how they will continue to stay in business? Facebook obviously saw a way to tap into a user base of data and information. "Oh look, Bryan posts pictures of bikes - he must be a cyclist. Let's shoot him some ads for bikes." Like I said earlier in this thread I'm really starting to think some of these companies are operating on a dangerous house of cards that could tumble down very easily if people move away from their products - "free or not."
Pretty much what Rico said. No company can live without its customers and if FB and all these other companies continue to ignore their userbase, they will one day, sooner rather than later, find themselves dead in the water. Especially on the internet when options can be made available.
@Al, yes, for now you don't have to post to FB but many worry that you will be forced to whether you like it or not. Its happened before with recent acquisitions by Facebook and yeah, I don't trust big tech companies like FB to keep their word forever.
King
Agree 100% in regards to the "house of cards".What I am positing is that the vast, and I really mean vast with a capital "V", users of these services have no clue about the kind of data mining and stealth marketing that is going on with social media companies. And for now, they just don't care. We do, people who really understand how this technology works do, but the vast majority don't...yet. This is the same reason why Apple has managed to dominate the portable/personal technology market. Because it just works and does the limited few things the vast majority of people want to do with their technolgy.