By now you will have definitely heard all sorts of opinions regarding Instagram’s latest ‘terms of service’ debacle that led users to believe that the social photograph sharing company was selling their pictures directly to advertisers. You may also have heard that Instagram’s user numbers have dropped by half since the fiasco hit the press and that Facebook has made a huge error in shelling out $1 billion for the fledgling company only to alienate 50% of its audience. However, has the report of its demise been greatly exaggerated? We think so.
The first thing that we need to get straight is the facts. Yes, that’s right, the good, old-fashioned facts that rags such as the Daily Mail or reactionary tech blogs either fail to see, or, more likely, choose to ignore. You see, ‘Instagram Loses Half of its Users’ has such a nice ring to it, it may not be beneath some hacks to fudge the evidence supporting this overtly clickable headline; if you delve a little deeper into the story, you’ll see that this extrapolation is based on data that is taken from an independent company called AppStats, who actually only look at the daily app usage on Facebook, as opposed to the entire Instagram network. Seeing as Facebook only counts for a minority of Instagram’s usage and that the ‘daily’ users to not equate to ‘total users’, even in the wildest fantasies of the most publicity-crazed tech editor, this claim is inherently fallacious.
But why would esteemed publications choose to risk their reputation (and no, I’m not talking about the Daily Mail here) on such an outrageous claim? An avaricious desire to sell more papers/webpage hits certainly accounts for an element of it, after all, we are dealing with journalists here, however, I think that there’s more to it than simple dollar-signs-in-the-eyes syndrome.
The press love to attack success stories, especially if their rise is particularly meteoric; like jackals sensing blood, the press will jump on any hint of discrepancy or questionable morality of someone who they deem to have ‘had it made too easily’. You only have to look at the winners of X Factor and Pop Idol to see evidence of this, with their 15 minutes of fame punctured by an old school friend selling a story of what they once did behind a bus shelter for a tenner. Now, this attitude may have its attributes; not when they’re outing some poor young soul who’s oral gifts extend beyond being able to hit high C, but when they topple corrupt corporations who dangerously cut corners to get ahead. However, Instagram doesn’t seem to have done this, as it just created a great product and sold at the right time to a high bidder who just so happened to wear Mark Zuckerberg’s shoes, and the vitriolic press attack seems to be based on one of undeserved malice, not to mention dishonest misrepresentation of facts.
So, will Instagram survive this ordeal? I think so. Given the fact that the new Instagram statistics say the app has 90 million monthly active users and that the claims of a dramatic loss have been widely refuted, I doubt that they’ll be shutting up shop anytime soon. Moreover, it will have bolstered their impetus for transparency when it comes to T&Cs and should make them a lot more cautious in dealing with the press in future.
If you are one of the 90 million users that do still use Instagram, you may want to check out Inkifi, a unique Instagram photo printing service that allows users to sell their art to other customers on the site. You can upload photos to a gallery that other users can browse through and then choose to purchase them, getting them printed on an impressive range of canvas prints, acrylic prints and framed prints. Alternatively, you can use the service to print the photos for yourself with a wide array of greeting cards, simple framed prints and many more to choose from.
This article was originally published on Inkifi, a unique website that allows users to print their Instagram photos onto a variety of canvases, frames and greeting cards; users can also sell their art via the website.
