We remember the time when Instagram was a virtual album with separate pages for everyone. Today, Instagram has evolved so much more and is one of the most popular social media platforms. Here are some interesting facts picked out from the incredible journey. Let’s get to know beyond the fact that Instagram is part of Facebook!
The story of the vintage filters: Holga
Kevin Systrom, the co-founder of Instagram, took a year in junior high to go and study in Florence from where he was introduced to a plastic camera known as Holga. The pictures from Holga came out with blurry edges with a vintage touch. He liked the style of pictures and it remained in his mind. It came back as an idea while creating the app.
The Instagram prototype: Burdn
The first Instagram model was created as a part of an experiment by Kevin to learn Html coding. Kevin initially named the prototype ‘Burdn’ inspired by his love for bourbon and whiskeys. The user can check in at different locations, plan and even earn points for hanging out with friends on the app.
Instant Telegram
The name ‘Burbn’ didn’t appeal to both the co-founders Kevin and Mike Krieger once they decided to restructure it to a unique photo-sharing app. So they combined the two paradigms of their product, an instant camera, and telegram, there it was, Instagram!
The first filter
Kevin’s wife Nicole is the one who came up with the suggestion of filters more than a decade ago as the camera quality of the smartphones wasn’t good back then. It was her idea that led Instagram to have the feature of inbuilt filters. A friendly favor feature holds a decade worth of photos with filters.
The beginning
Being launched in 2010, the main focus of Instagram was to feature photographs that were captured on mobile devices. The app acquired 25,000 users on the first day of launch!
Every filter owns a story!
Systromand Krieger put a lot of thought into naming each filter we see on Instagram. During the initial days, they named the filters related to a personal story of either of the founders. Some were named after streets and random associations as well like Branden, a street in San Francisco where the Instagram headquarters was located before it became a part of Facebook
Pizza dominates the fame in the square world!
Pizza is the most photographed on Instagram with over 19.7 million hash tagged photos of hot and cheesy pizzas all over the world. Sushi is a little behind and is the second most photographed food on Instagram with over 13.4 million posts.
The video launch went viral!
Instagram launched the feature that allows users to post videos on the platform in June 2013. Within the first 24 hours, 5 million videos were uploaded on Instagram!
Through the young eyes of Instagram: World is a square
Back in the day, Instagram taught people to look at the world as a square. It allowed only the use of square images and videos on the platform. There were apps created solely to edit images and videos into a square to be uploaded on Instagram. However, the option to post vertical and horizontal pictures was added in 2015.
Milestone Instagram acquired around 100 thousand users in the first week of its launch in October 2010. Within a few months, the app picked up a million users. Another six to eight months added up to ten million users. Two and a half into the journey, Instagram was hit with 100 million active users in February 2013!
