21 replies to this topic

[Luke Larris]

Just read this: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/04/09/instagram-acquired-by-facebook-service-will-stay-up-and-running-as-is-for-now/

And here's Instagram's blog post: http://blog.instagra...tagram-facebook

So Facebook is to buy Instagram for one billion dollars. One billion dollars for a company that doesn't make squat. One billion dollars just so they can ruin yet another great app.

I'm going to keep using Instagram until it starts to suck, and then I'm deleting my account forever.

What do you guys think about all this?

[x_Stricken_x]

Doesn't really matter to me, honestly

[tech explorer]

Doesn't personally matter to me, but I would give Facebook a chance.

[x_Stricken_x]

lucasbytegenius, on 09 April 2012 - 11:40 AM, said:

One billion dollars just so they can ruin yet another great app.

Wait, what apps have they bought out and ruined before? O_o

[Luke Larris]

Gowalla for one

And their iOS app really sucks.

[x_Stricken_x]

Never heard of it. And how does it suck? I haven't had any problems with it

[Luke Larris]

Gowalla was a 4square alternative that was bought and then killed.

And the Facebook app sucks because one, the notifications don't always work, and 2, when I go to a status to look at new comments from a notification it doesn't load the new comments until you refresh about 2-3 times.

[x_Stricken_x]

lucasbytegenius, on 10 April 2012 - 12:48 PM, said:

Gowalla was a 4square alternative that was bought and then killed.

And the Facebook app sucks because one, the notifications don't always work, and 2, when I go to a status to look at new comments from a notification it doesn't load the new comments until you refresh about 2-3 times.

Ahh okay, that's probably why I haven't heard of it - I just got into the whole Foursquare thing last summer lol.

And I don't have that problem. I had one problem with their API itself being screwed up so it scrambled people's pictures, but that wasn't the app itself - just the API most websites rely on/use (at least the websites running PHP)

[x_Stricken_x]

And actually, I am having problems with the app now - I can't like comments on anything; the button doesn't even show up. And on the touch site, notifications show the person's picture, then on the next line the notification message; like and unlike show at the same time (in reverse if you liked the post: Unlike - Like).. Weird

[Luke Larris]

Yeah the like links for comments and posts disappearing is another problem I've had with that awful app. And it's had these issues forever it seems.

[x_Stricken_x]

You have to take into consideration the fact that they don't develop for a single platform, nor would it be sensible to release a few updates every couple of days. While people are more than likely aware of the problems, most people just deal with it - or take my suggestion and just use the mobile/touch website ( http://m.facebook.com/ or http://touch.facebook.com/ )

Not to mention I can't see running a huge company with web, mobile, and native apps being too easy - even with a strong business background, etc. Really, it all depends on how bad they want the product to succeed

[x_Stricken_x]

So, just as I was beginning to assume, this was all a ploy at taking out a threat. Facebook, according to an article I read (which I'll cite below), felt threatened by Instagram because of the amount of users using the app versus uploading photos on Facebook (in short, anyways). It makes sense if you think about it. But really, is almost double the companies value really worth protecting your own company? I think that is more or less the question that should be asked, at least in my own opinion. I can see it making sense in one way, but I can also find reason for it not to be so sensible on Zuckerburg and Facebook's end.

Article: http://gigaom.com/20...ught-instagram/

[Luke Larris]

Yeah I read an article similar to that somewhere else. Instagram was definitely a pain in Zuck's gut. Because of all the users he panicked and bought Instagram.

I really wish Instagram had stayed independent but I guess the prospect of 1 billion dollars was too much for the people there.

[x_Stricken_x]

For a company that's only worth about 200-300 million, I'd gladly take a billion I'm really surprised to see/type that number though lol

[Luke Larris]

Yeah well that shows how much of a threat Zuck thought Instagram to be

[x_Stricken_x]

Or how stupid he/his team could be

[Luke Larris]

I heard that Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter, did offer to buy Instagram several months before Zuck stepped up. I think that may also have been a factor in how much Facebook paid for Instagram, because they didn't want Twitter getting it.
Would have been awesome if Twitter got Instagram I bet they're going to buy some other similar service or make their own now.

[x_Stricken_x]

I thought Twitter did have their own image service..

[Luke Larris]

x_Stricken_x, on 14 April 2012 - 04:28 PM, said:

I thought Twitter did have their own image service..

They do, it's an image hosting service, not a photosharing app like Instagram is

[x_Stricken_x]

What's the difference? >_> (rhetorical question, by the way)