Facebook acquires Instagram • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook acquires Instagram

#181

Post by achompas » Mon, Apr 09, 2012, 6:21 PM UTC

georgespencer wrote: post #90

inmygarage wrote: post #62

This is very reminiscent of Google/YouTube circa 2006. When Google bought YT it was a small team of people and a pretty nascent product that people really loved, and the usage numbers were out of control. They left the product mostly untouched and let it grow on its own. Though there was major criticism at the time, it is one of the best tech acquisitions of the past decade.

> This is very reminiscent of Google/YouTube circa 2006. In that it was a startup acquired by a big company? Yep. > When Google bought YT it was a small team of people and a pretty nascent product that people really loved, and the usage numbers were out of control. Like most startup acquisitions, the team size is relatively small and there is significant traction in the market with headroom to mature their footprint.…

Instagram is a photo service in a sea of other photo services.

You're mischaracterizing Instagram. It's not "a photo service," it's the photo service. 30M iOS users plus 1M new Android users in 12 hours.[0]

Instagram is the main mobile photo app. With this purchase, Facebook strengthens their mobile position the way Google strengthened their content position with YT. The acquisitions are very similar.

(edited for a stronger point)

[0]http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/04/07/instagr...

Re: Facebook acquires Instagram

#182

Post by smiler » Mon, Apr 09, 2012, 6:21 PM UTC

jtchang wrote: post #8

Congrats to Instagram! Can't say I am not bit disappointed though with all the startups getting gobbled up by much larger companies. What's next? Pinterest?

Why are you surprised? Most startups are built to either go IPO or exit through a buy out. Considering many startups (including Instagram) do not even come up with a profitable business model, it excludes IPO and therefore only leaves an exit as a way for investors to recoup their investment.

Re: Facebook acquires Instagram

#183

Post by awongh » Mon, Apr 09, 2012, 6:23 PM UTC

Will this mean that they'll finally get a real website? I'd love to be able to browse my friends' photos. It seemed to me that the complete lack of functionality on the single photo page (not even a link to your home page?!) seemed like a big middle finger to non-mobile users. Anytime I clicked through from facebook and twitter, the fact that I couldn't get anywhere from there was enough of a turn-off to make me avoid getting the iOS app.

Or maybe it'll be folded into the horrible UI mess that is FB and go away....

Re: Facebook acquires Instagram

#184

Post by thisismyname » Mon, Apr 09, 2012, 6:24 PM UTC

Interesting that everyone is focused on Instagram as a company and how they just got $1 billion.

I find it interesting that Mark and Facebook were able to buy a company for $1 billion. Its like the joke chris rock said about being wealthy.

"Shaq is rich, the white man that signs his check is wealthy"

Re: Facebook acquires Instagram

#185

Post by itg » Mon, Apr 09, 2012, 6:28 PM UTC

johnrob wrote: post #10

I had been wondering how a product like Instagram would ever make money. Now we'll never find out. I guess traction really does trump all other business metrics.

It's beginning to remind me of the late 90's where the only thing that mattered was number of "eyeballs" on your site, sound business plans/profits be damned.

Re: Facebook acquires Instagram

#186

Post by bimil » Mon, Apr 09, 2012, 6:28 PM UTC

Congrats to Instagram. I think the real value that's been overlooked for Instagram is the Instagram community. Instagram has a very strong community around the world (www.instagramers.com has more than 250 chapter groups) and that may be one of the factors Facebook was looking at.

Re: Facebook acquires Instagram

#187

Post by blhack » Mon, Apr 09, 2012, 6:30 PM UTC

gbog wrote: post #76

I just downloaded Instagram for Android the other day and wondered how to save pictures on my phone with this tool... apparently you can't, so yes, Facebook and them play in the same court: you don't own your things anymore.

This definitely isn't the case on iOS. I use instagram all the time, but only for the filters. Pictures I take with it get put on dropbox.

Re: Facebook acquires Instagram

#188

Post by tanish2khn » Mon, Apr 09, 2012, 6:30 PM UTC

freehunter wrote: post #107

homosaur wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube is a content paradise though. There's tons of value there and you can sell ads against it or even charge for premium services. Where's the money in Instagram? The content is practically worthless and their only real value is in their userbase. Even though I use the Instagram client, most of the time I see photos, they come through Twitter. So that also reinforces for me that any value is in the users and not…

Facebook currently has very limited editing for their pictures. By acquiring a well-known and talented company, Facebook can roll this into their current offerings. I would be very skeptical that this was a user-driven move. I can't imagine a large percentage of Instagram users who are not also Facebook users, even if people posted a lot of Instagrams to Twitter.

one, instagram has brilliant team which also include creative people and not only tech. two, very high yet active user base. three, which is purely on business value - the cumulative time spent in the mobile app of 30 million active instagram users, when you add up, will give more revenue in facebook ad in the following years. i would say, facebook played safe here in trying to regain the usage time.

Re: Facebook acquires Instagram

#189

Post by kposehn » Mon, Apr 09, 2012, 6:30 PM UTC

untog wrote: post #178

kposehn wrote: post #169

So, I found something very interesting in Mark Zuckerberg's post about acquiring Instagram: > we're committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people. Facebook has always integrated whatever it purchased (that I know of) very tightly into the core…

They sort of did it with Beluga- it became "Facebook Messenger" but was never integrated into the main app. At the time I was confused as to why they'd do that, but if you think of it as a replacement for the stock "Messages" app, and Instagram for "Camera" then it all starts to come together.

Good point - though they did eliminate the brand with Beluga, and they probably won't with Instagram. That could change though.

Besides messaging and photos, I'm thinking that few things are left as halo products around Facebook. There's no reason for a "games" app - to me, at least - but there might be logic in acquiring something like Turntable.fm for music.

Re: Facebook acquires Instagram

#190

Post by kposehn » Mon, Apr 09, 2012, 6:32 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #139

untog wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems ominous for Google, which spent $12.5bn for Motorola to stake a shaky claim in mobile I was under the impression that Google paid that price (and, indeed, bought Motorola at all) for patents. Google is doing just fine out of Android. iOS may be better marketed, but there are a hell of a lot more Android phones out there.

The game is scored in profit. Revenue and market share matters only as a means to the end of securing profits. Android has a huge market share (and, dearly bought), but even 1st & Goal doesn't matter unless you actually score. I don't keep super close track, so maybe Apple's commanding profit share lead is eroding sharply. Last I checked, "commanding" was indeed the word for it. Again, all I'm saying is that you can…

> 1st & Goal doesn't matter unless you actually score

Well put.