The Rabbit Feed - The Instagram edition
At the end of last year, mobile photo-sharing network Instagram was being touted as the possibly the next big thing in social media
Now, on 4.25 million users with ten images being uploaded per second, those predictions seem to be coming true.
A lot of us at Rabbit have become big Instagram fans personally and we're starting to use it for a number of clients. As a result we've devoted this post-Bank Holiday edition of the Rabbit Feed to it.
1 - What is it?
2 - Who is using it?
3 - Why is it popular?
4 - How do you access Instagram online?
5 - The Instagram ecosystem
6 - What brands are using it?
7 - Should you be using it?
8 - What about Android?
9 - Suggestions for five users to follow
10 - Rabbits on Instagram
11 - Further reading
1 - What is it?
Instagram is an application and social network that - for now - runs on Apple iPhones.
You take a photograph (or upload it) on your phone, put it through one of the Instagram filters that can alter and enhance the photo, post it on your feed and tag it by location if you want.
You can also optionally share it via other social networks (Facebook, Foursquare, Flickr, Twitter, Tumblr) - 25% of Instragammers send their photos out on Twitter, giving the network a greater reach beyond its iPhone user base.
Instagram has been called a Twitter for photos as much like Twitter you have your own stream and follow people. Like Twitter and unlike Facebook this can be one way.
Instagram was set up in October 2010, receiving $7 million from venture capitalists, not a huge amount when you consider another photo social network Color, received US $41 million - in fact Instagram has a grand total of four employees.
CEO Kevin Systrom is an ex Google employee while one of the investors is Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.
2 - Who is using it?
Over the past seven months, Instagram has shown faster growth rates than Facebook, Twitter or Foursquare during their start-up phases.
In the first month, it had 500,000 users, by Christmas it had one million and last week it announced it was on 4.25 million users with ten photos being uploaded per second.
Not only is Instagram amassing users fast, the level of engagement for a new social network is relatively good.
RJ Metrics found earlier in the year that even though 37.5% of users have never uploaded a photo, Instagram has a better user retention rate than Twitter or Foursquare.
Instagram's growth has led analyst Om Malik of Giga Om to comment that Instagram can become the "mobile social hub."
3 - Why is it popular?
The mobile photo sharing phenomenon on social media was the subject of a discussion at this year's SXSW Interactive Festival in March, featuring among other Facebook's photo product manager Sam Odio.
Four factors were seen to be at play:
1 - Smartphone ownership is now at around 35% of the total and growing. And smartphone users now increasingly utilities their phones as their main camera. For example the iPhone is now the most popular camera on Flickr
2 - Integration with a user's social networks such as Facebook has helped clean up this space and lessened the risk of chatroulette style exposure (Playboy has a feed but it is pretty mild)
3 - Start-ups such as Instagram are viable due to the decrease in photo storage costs (in this case for millions of photos)
4 - The filter has been a huge innovation. It allows anyone to turn a mundane photo into something much more interesting. In fact, some of the most popular applications in Apple's iPhone store are photo editing and enhancing apps (see below)
Finally linked to that, the saying of a picture says a thousand words comes to mind.
While a lot of people found it difficult to get the point of Twitter early on, we've found that Instagram is easier service to get to grips with. As many journalists have remarked (for example Silicon Valley journalist Chris O'Brien), once you use it, you are instantly hooked.
As a result, even if another network ends up eclipsing Instagram, these factors still very much hold true and mass photo sharing on social networks is here to stay.
4 - How do you access Instagram on a PC?
The Instagram feed works first and foremost through the iPhone. However, the Instagram API has been used by developers to create websites where you can look at Instagram on a PC.
Examples include Extragram (free), Carousel (paid for with 15 day trial) and webstagram (free). Many of these Rabbit Feed screengrabs come from Extragram and webstagram and not the app.
US marketing agency Barbarian additionally produced an Instagram powered screensaver called Screenstagram
5 - The Instagram ecosystem
We mentioned the Instagram filters - the feature which according to the New York Times, "transforms plain cellphone pictures into vintage-looking works of art."
There is now a whole ecosystem of applications and sites that feed off Instagram - and separate photo editing applications for the every man and woman.
The NY Times features a few such as Keepsy (produce photobooks) and Postagram (send an Instagram postcard). Statigram (featured in a previous Rabbit Feed), will give you stats about your feed.
Popular photo sharing applications include Camera+, which in addition to filters includes a clarity button which the Economist says makes a photo look like it was taken with a better camera.
Meanwhile, 100 Cameras in 1 is the first application that allows you to export directly to Instagram (with others you save 1st, then open in Instagram).
The Next Web has a good run-down of 30 good apps you can use for your iPhone
6 - What brands are using it?
A number of brands are now on board, The Next Web recently profiled some of them.
Early adopter brands include Red Bull, MTV, ABC News, CNN, British Airways, Burberry and Starbucks.
Indeed, much like the blogging platform Tumblr (another 2010/2011 success story) the fashion and media industries have been quick to adopt the network.
With 32k followers Burberry has one of the most popular feeds overall on Instagram.
Other fashion and retail brands that have a presence include Threadless, Marc Jacobs and Gucci.
Meanwhile Moby has used both social network Sound Cloud and Instagram to promote his new album 'Destroyed' - fans can upload images on Instagram using the hashtag #destroyed, which then appear on the microsite.
Note the use of hashtags, which are becoming as important as they are on Twitter. Webstagram has a list of the most popular hashtags - (number one is #cat!)
7 - Should you be using it as a brand?
Should you be using it?
If you can create an interesting visual storyline around some area of your business, then yes, especially as it is another way to engage consumers - and images can be integrated and shared across other social networks (images have a greater reach via Twitter and Facebook sharing).
Though its not being used like this at the moment, it won't take much for someone to set up a spoof or complaint account and populate it with images, so this will eventually come.
As a result, at the very minimum it should be on your radar and you should take your brand name. If you have physical stores or office locations you should also check to see what images are being posted against them (and ideally add your own).
At the same time, here is what not to do: Six months ago National Geographic announced that it was "excited" to join the Instagram community.
That was the one and only image it has ever posted. As with any other social network, if you are going to take the plunge, have a content plan in place that allows for reasonably consistent participation.
8 - What about Android?
At least in Europe, the Apple iOS is still ahead of Android in reach and popularity. This is confirmed by the latest (30 May) Comscore stats.
However going forward Instagram will need to develop an Android version to justify the hype and there is apparently one in the pipeline.
For the moment, there are several applications on Android that provide an Instagram like experience - one is Snapbucket
9 - Getting started on Instagram? Five feeds to follow
NPR - With 35,000 followers US radio network NPR shows how news organisations can use Instagram feeds
Jack Dorsey - Instagram investor and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's feed
Audio Soup - Ciler Gecici demonstrates the potential for the travel sector to embrace Instagram with her pictures of Istanbul
Burberry - Fashion brand Burberry has a popular, and very active, feed
Jamie OIiver - Mixes his feed with personal and work related images
10 - Rabbits on Instagram
The agency has an Instagram feed, as do many of the Rabbits! Some of our feeds:
The Rabbit feed, which we take on rotation, currently being managed by Cat
Other Rabbit instagrammers include - Bridey, Dirk, Zoe and Kristina.
11 - Want to know more? Links to further reading
Instagram surpasses 4.25 million registered users, now posting 10 photos a second (Techcrunch)
Instagram review - Shane Richmond (The Telegraph - review from another sceptic turned advocate)
10 things you should know about Instagram (memeburn)
Digital Photography - being there (The Economist)
18 brilliant retail brands using Instagram (Fashionably Marketing)
10 early adopter brands using Instagram (The Next Web)
Moby streams new album with Soundcloud and Instagram (Mashable)
(US) National Public Radio using Instagram for photo sharing, is it the next big thing? (Poynter)
13 Instagram Apps for More Photo Fun (Mashable)
The top 30 best iPhone apps for iPhone (The Next Web)
Rabbit - We like carrots, not sticks
Winners of the 2011 Econsultancy 'innovation in online customer services' award and one of the world's most democratic workplaces, we're a social media ideas agency.
That means we look at different ways in which online social tools can be integrated into organisations.
Want to know more? Visit us at www.therabbitagency.com, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook or email hello@therabbitagency.com
Viewing the the html version and want to sign up to get this by email? Sign up at http://clicky.me/rabbitfeed
At the end of last year, mobile photo-sharing network Instagram was being touted as the possibly the next big thing in social media
Now, on 4.25 million users with ten images being uploaded per second, those predictions seem to be coming true.
A lot of us at Rabbit have become big Instagram fans personally and we're starting to use it for a number of clients. As a result we've devoted this post-Bank Holiday edition of the Rabbit Feed to it.
1 - What is it?
2 - Who is using it?
3 - Why is it popular?
4 - How do you access Instagram online?
5 - The Instagram ecosystem
6 - What brands are using it?
7 - Should you be using it?
8 - What about Android?
9 - Suggestions for five users to follow
10 - Rabbits on Instagram
11 - Further reading
1 - What is it?
Instagram is an application and social network that - for now - runs on Apple iPhones.
You take a photograph (or upload it) on your phone, put it through one of the Instagram filters that can alter and enhance the photo, post it on your feed and tag it by location if you want.
You can also optionally share it via other social networks (Facebook, Foursquare, Flickr, Twitter, Tumblr) - 25% of Instragammers send their photos out on Twitter, giving the network a greater reach beyond its iPhone user base.
Instagram has been called a Twitter for photos as much like Twitter you have your own stream and follow people. Like Twitter and unlike Facebook this can be one way.
Instagram was set up in October 2010, receiving $7 million from venture capitalists, not a huge amount when you consider another photo social network Color, received US $41 million - in fact Instagram has a grand total of four employees.
CEO Kevin Systrom is an ex Google employee while one of the investors is Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.
2 - Who is using it?
Over the past seven months, Instagram has shown faster growth rates than Facebook, Twitter or Foursquare during their start-up phases.
In the first month, it had 500,000 users, by Christmas it had one million and last week it announced it was on 4.25 million users with ten photos being uploaded per second.
Not only is Instagram amassing users fast, the level of engagement for a new social network is relatively good.
RJ Metrics found earlier in the year that even though 37.5% of users have never uploaded a photo, Instagram has a better user retention rate than Twitter or Foursquare.
Instagram's growth has led analyst Om Malik of Giga Om to comment that Instagram can become the "mobile social hub."
3 - Why is it popular?
The mobile photo sharing phenomenon on social media was the subject of a discussion at this year's SXSW Interactive Festival in March, featuring among other Facebook's photo product manager Sam Odio.
Four factors were seen to be at play:
1 - Smartphone ownership is now at around 35% of the total and growing. And smartphone users now increasingly utilities their phones as their main camera. For example the iPhone is now the most popular camera on Flickr
2 - Integration with a user's social networks such as Facebook has helped clean up this space and lessened the risk of chatroulette style exposure (Playboy has a feed but it is pretty mild)
3 - Start-ups such as Instagram are viable due to the decrease in photo storage costs (in this case for millions of photos)
4 - The filter has been a huge innovation. It allows anyone to turn a mundane photo into something much more interesting. In fact, some of the most popular applications in Apple's iPhone store are photo editing and enhancing apps (see below)
Finally linked to that, the saying of a picture says a thousand words comes to mind.
While a lot of people found it difficult to get the point of Twitter early on, we've found that Instagram is easier service to get to grips with. As many journalists have remarked (for example Silicon Valley journalist Chris O'Brien), once you use it, you are instantly hooked.
As a result, even if another network ends up eclipsing Instagram, these factors still very much hold true and mass photo sharing on social networks is here to stay.
4 - How do you access Instagram on a PC?
The Instagram feed works first and foremost through the iPhone. However, the Instagram API has been used by developers to create websites where you can look at Instagram on a PC.
Examples include Extragram (free), Carousel (paid for with 15 day trial) and webstagram (free). Many of these Rabbit Feed screengrabs come from Extragram and webstagram and not the app.
US marketing agency Barbarian additionally produced an Instagram powered screensaver called Screenstagram
5 - The Instagram ecosystem
We mentioned the Instagram filters - the feature which according to the New York Times, "transforms plain cellphone pictures into vintage-looking works of art."
There is now a whole ecosystem of applications and sites that feed off Instagram - and separate photo editing applications for the every man and woman.
The NY Times features a few such as Keepsy (produce photobooks) and Postagram (send an Instagram postcard). Statigram (featured in a previous Rabbit Feed), will give you stats about your feed.
Popular photo sharing applications include Camera+, which in addition to filters includes a clarity button which the Economist says makes a photo look like it was taken with a better camera.
Meanwhile, 100 Cameras in 1 is the first application that allows you to export directly to Instagram (with others you save 1st, then open in Instagram).
The Next Web has a good run-down of 30 good apps you can use for your iPhone
6 - What brands are using it?
A number of brands are now on board, The Next Web recently profiled some of them.
Early adopter brands include Red Bull, MTV, ABC News, CNN, British Airways, Burberry and Starbucks.
Indeed, much like the blogging platform Tumblr (another 2010/2011 success story) the fashion and media industries have been quick to adopt the network.
With 32k followers Burberry has one of the most popular feeds overall on Instagram.
Other fashion and retail brands that have a presence include Threadless, Marc Jacobs and Gucci.
Meanwhile Moby has used both social network Sound Cloud and Instagram to promote his new album 'Destroyed' - fans can upload images on Instagram using the hashtag #destroyed, which then appear on the microsite.
Note the use of hashtags, which are becoming as important as they are on Twitter. Webstagram has a list of the most popular hashtags - (number one is #cat!)
7 - Should you be using it as a brand?
Should you be using it?
If you can create an interesting visual storyline around some area of your business, then yes, especially as it is another way to engage consumers - and images can be integrated and shared across other social networks (images have a greater reach via Twitter and Facebook sharing).
Though its not being used like this at the moment, it won't take much for someone to set up a spoof or complaint account and populate it with images, so this will eventually come.
As a result, at the very minimum it should be on your radar and you should take your brand name. If you have physical stores or office locations you should also check to see what images are being posted against them (and ideally add your own).
At the same time, here is what not to do: Six months ago National Geographic announced that it was "excited" to join the Instagram community.
That was the one and only image it has ever posted. As with any other social network, if you are going to take the plunge, have a content plan in place that allows for reasonably consistent participation.
8 - What about Android?
At least in Europe, the Apple iOS is still ahead of Android in reach and popularity. This is confirmed by the latest (30 May) Comscore stats.
However going forward Instagram will need to develop an Android version to justify the hype and there is apparently one in the pipeline.
For the moment, there are several applications on Android that provide an Instagram like experience - one is Snapbucket
9 - Getting started on Instagram? Five feeds to follow
NPR - With 35,000 followers US radio network NPR shows how news organisations can use Instagram feeds
Jack Dorsey - Instagram investor and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's feed
Audio Soup - Ciler Gecici demonstrates the potential for the travel sector to embrace Instagram with her pictures of Istanbul
Burberry - Fashion brand Burberry has a popular, and very active, feed
Jamie OIiver - Mixes his feed with personal and work related images
10 - Rabbits on Instagram
The agency has an Instagram feed, as do many of the Rabbits! Some of our feeds:
The Rabbit feed, which we take on rotation, currently being managed by Cat
Other Rabbit instagrammers include - Bridey, Dirk, Zoe and Kristina.
11 - Want to know more? Links to further reading
Instagram surpasses 4.25 million registered users, now posting 10 photos a second (Techcrunch)
Instagram review - Shane Richmond (The Telegraph - review from another sceptic turned advocate)
10 things you should know about Instagram (memeburn)
Digital Photography - being there (The Economist)
18 brilliant retail brands using Instagram (Fashionably Marketing)
10 early adopter brands using Instagram (The Next Web)
Moby streams new album with Soundcloud and Instagram (Mashable)
(US) National Public Radio using Instagram for photo sharing, is it the next big thing? (Poynter)
13 Instagram Apps for More Photo Fun (Mashable)
The top 30 best iPhone apps for iPhone (The Next Web)
Rabbit - We like carrots, not sticks
Winners of the 2011 Econsultancy 'innovation in online customer services' award and one of the world's most democratic workplaces, we're a social media ideas agency.
That means we look at different ways in which online social tools can be integrated into organisations.
Want to know more? Visit us at www.therabbitagency.com, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook or email hello@therabbitagency.com
Viewing the the html version and want to sign up to get this by email? Sign up at http://clicky.me/rabbitfeed
