Instagram has revolutionized how people share and how they see the world. Suddenly, people that lack the experience and the knowledge often reserved to professional photographers. In fact, this app has become so popular is it has become the household name among social photo sharing networks. Despite the fact that there are other platforms that are more available to more devices, still Instagram remains the gold standard for other photo sharing sites. Instagram’s success has catapulted it towards an iconic status that people are referring the competitors as wannabes. No wonder Facebook spent a huge chunk of its cash reserves to acquire this fledgling social media network for a whopping one billion dollars. It seems Mark Zuckerberg sees a huge potential on this endeavor worth spending a cool billion dollars.
Is it really a bed of roses for Instagram? Is there some chink on its armor? As the platform grew more and more pundits are pointing out several things that the founders of Instagram and Facebook need to work on. The criticisms that have surfaced recently is crucial in staving off massive user exodus that could become the death knell that will spell doom for this young social media network.
Let us make a review of the top five criticisms that have been lodged against Instagram.
- Think before you speak. When Instagram was pushed to the wall to perform, it made a bad turn that turned off majority of its users. The culprit was the sudden change of stipulations on its Terms of Service. Suddenly, Instagram users are being told that the content that they upload to the system can be sold allegedly to businesses for advertising purposes. For example, if you uploaded a picture of your lunch and by the time you went back to the app, you will see that it has become part of an advertisement for a restaurant. Not a pretty sight.
- Fragmentation in Android. When Instagram started it was an iOS-exclusive app. It means that only devices that are running iOS are able to use all the goodies that come with the use of the mobile Instagram app. With the burgeoning number of Android devices ruling smartphonelandia, Instagram creators finally decided to make a version made specifically for Android. The intent was good but the execution was bad. It seems that the user experience vary from one Android smartphone to another. This made people that are familiar with the iOS user experience queasy.
- Instagram can own your pictures. This is a nightmare for professional photographers because their work can easily be owned by Instagram if the images have been uploaded to the system. When you upload content to Instagram you expressly grant them license to use it without informing you.
- Quality is not quite the same. People who are familiar with the quality of filters in the iOS app would attest that it is not the same when you use the Android version of Instagram. There were some features that are found in the iOS version that are not found on the Android one. One example is the absence of the shallow depth of field and a darker filter compared to the filter found in iOS.
- The handling is not the same. iOS users have no problem with it but some Android phones will not allow users to shoot from Instagram they have to do a lot of workaround to make the picture taking happen.
Instagram should listen to its users in order to survive. A billion dollars could potentially be flushed down the drain if Instagram is not careful. It cannot rest on its laurels because there would be better and more efficient competitors waiting in the wings and just looking for the right chance to snatch the crown from Instagram’s head.