 "Instagram CEO wants to see service on 'every platform', still no Windows Phone app")
Instagram CEO, Kevin Systrom seems to have big plans for the photo-editing and sharing application. In an interview recently, he says that he wishes to see Instagram “on every platform, on every kind of phone and tablet and wearables.” There’s still no word on the much-demanded Windows Phone app yet.
Systrom sat down for an interview with The Guardian to talk about the company and where he sees it a few years down the line. Recently, it had been revealed that Instagram is now serving over 150 million users on its application with 55 million images uploaded on the service daily. Interestingly, Systrom attributes Instagram’s massive growth to its exclusive mobile presence and says that the service has no plans to expand to the web beyond its viewing-only mode.
Instagram wants to take over the world
Despite the fact that the mobile screen has its constraints, Systrom is unfazed. In fact, he believes there is a creative advantage to the mobile screen. “There is beauty in constraint, and the fact it is so small and on your screen. An unconstrained space feels overbearing or too challenging, but we give you this little space and say ‘just participate in this little crop of a photo’. It makes it really easy and approachable, and that’s what people like it so much.”
While it is great for creative pursuits, the mobile screen could pose a problem for Instagram’s advertising ventures. The company was acquired for $1 billion by Facebook, even when the service was not generating any revenue. After having added a Vine-like video feature, Instagram has taken its baby steps towards monetisation. The move comes nearly eighteen months after the acquisition.
Earlier this month, Instagram announced that it is slowly rolling out advertisements on its applications. It will start displaying video and image-based advertisements to users, starting with the US. The company has promised that the ads will be aesthetic in nature, and the rollout slow.
Even while ads roll out on Instagram, Systrom says that Instagram’s aim is to let users create beautiful images that they would like to see years later. “The way I look at filters, it’s the tone and voice of the moment, so we allow you to editorialise the perception,” he says. “We’re allowing the consumer to do the same thing to their life. Increasingly, any new filters we make a bit more subtle because if you do too much to that photo you’re not necessarily going to want to look at it in 20 years. We want to make sure that people are investing these assets in Instagram so that five or 10 years down the road they feel they’ve got something really useful, not saccharine or overbearing in any way.”
But he has a more ambitious plan for Instagram besides these beautiful stories. Systrom wants Instagram to be the tool that connects you to the world. “In five years, I want to see not just content from my friends but my morning news on Instagram, from multiple channels. I want Instagram to be the place I learn about the world.”
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