Instagram has, by design, limited its market share from the very beginning. First it was simply for apple products like the iPhone and iTouch, and then it grew to include the Android market as well (sorry Windows phone users). The main thing that separated Instagram from other social networks was that it was never available on physical computers before, at least not without the use of third party tools. That changed late last week though when Instagram finally took that giant step towards being a viable competitor to Marketing with Twitter and Facebook: Instagram live on the web.
When you went to Instagram.com in the past, you were greeted with the options to sign up and a little bit about the company, nothing really interesting. Since last week’s update, you can view your entire feed right in your browser. You can like and comment on photos, view profiles, and do pretty much anything else you can do on the mobile app. The only functionality currently not available are the explore and news tabs.
What does this mean for marketing with Instagram?
Instagram is growing up. Like Facebook and Twitter before it, the hipster of the social networking world is realizing they need to get a little bigger and bolder if they are going to expand their influence. As a marketer, this is great news. Instagram is one of the easiest social networks to maintain, you keep the feed open, you like and comment occasionally, and you take stylish pictures of your products. If you think that’s hard to pull off, bring in a teenage girl for an afternoon. After a few hours, she’ll have an iPhone full of incredible pictures that you can dole out over the next month or so.