In a short period of two months it already had practically 1 million users, attracting the attention of much larger companies.
Every October 6 for 14 years, Instagram celebrates its anniversary and since its launch it has established itself as one of the most proliferate and influential networks in the world.
Created in 2010 by Kevin Systrom y Mike Kriegerwhat started as a simple photography app has transformed into a massive platform with more than 1.4 billion active users in 2024.
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A simple origin that changed history
Considered a photography enthusiast, Kevin Systrom developed the app Burbna platform that allowed users to check-in and share their location, similar to Foursquare. However, Systrom and Krieger decided simplify the app and focus exclusively on the photo sharing aspectwhich led to the launch of Instagram on October 6, 2010.
Subsequently, its exponential growth led to the purchase of the platform by the so-called queen of the internet company: Facebook.
Explosive growth and the purchase by Facebook
In a short period of two months it already had practically 1 million users, attracting the attention of much larger companies, leading to meteoric growth to be a social phenomenon with the purchase of Facebook.
The company of Mark Zuckerberg acquired Instagram for $1 billion dollars in 2012, when the platform already had 27 million users. The purchase was a key move for Facebook, since it allowed it to integrate a platform that would soon dominate the field of social networks.
Innovations that made a difference
The success of Instagram was not only due to its simplicity, but also to its constant innovation. The introduction of the hashtags allowed users to connect with broader audiences, and the feature Instagram Storiesreleased in 2016, changed the way users shared content by allowing posts that disappear after 24 hours.
Although during the release of these stories, the company was highly criticized by users for “usurping” the creation and format of the Snapchat platform, on which the calls were presented. “stories” y “snaps”pioneers in the concept of ephemeral messages and temporal story sharing that disappear after 24 hours. For Snapchat, this “competition” represented a significant blow, as many users and brands began using Instagram Stories due to the large user base it already had.
More recently, Reels has competed with platforms like TikTok by allowing the creation of short and dynamic videos.
