Back in June I wrote a post introducing Instagram for Android, which had just come out after being available for iPhone for years. I talked about the technical aspects of it in that post, as well as giving a link to my own Instagram page, which was very new.
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I have to say that at this juncture I’m absolutely in love with this program. I can’t believe I’ve only had it six months; I’m ecstatic. Why? What do I do with it?
The first thing is being able to share photos immediately after taking them. Sometimes I wait until I get home, but it was so much fun being able to share some pictures with people when I was in Florida at a convention in October. I don’t fancy myself a photographer, but I do try to find some things that I think would make a good shot to take pictures of. True, there are some limitations to a smartphone’s camera, and the iPhone’s camera is better than my own. Still, the pictures are good enough for most people and easy to get online whenever I’m in the mood.
The second thing is being able to pop in a location from time to time. Truthfully, most of the time I have location tracking turned off on my phone because, well, I just don’t feel like being tracked. And yet, there are places you go to where you don’t mind allowing the image to tell everyone exactly where you are. For instance, often when I’m at the casino I’ll turn it on so people can see which part of the casino I’m in when I’m sharing a picture. If I’m in Rochester visiting my mother sometimes I turn it on as well.
The third thing I like about it, especially when using the smartphone, is being able to see pictures that people I’m following are putting up. It’s amazing how many people have a great eye and what interests them. What I’m really amazed at is how females have totally figured out how to take great pictures of themselves; I haven’t gotten that one down yet. I always miss the button, and when I find the button I’ve moved the camera and look ridiculous. People keep telling me I look mad in pictures I eventually get of myself; that’s funny.
The last thing I love about it is when I can go into the random area and just see pictures like the one above. You usually get 18 pictures at a time, where you see 12 and you can scroll down to see the rest. If you see a picture you like you can give it some love, even if you’re not following that person. And if you decide to check into that person further and see more that you like, you can subscribe to that channel, which I recently did with Daily Puppy; love puppies. 🙂 I actually kill 10 minutes at a time looking at pictures at random times; it’s a great time killer and, strangely enough, I’ve just discovered that some of the pictures I end up liking show up on my Facebook page, where others can like then; freaky!
Frankly, the only thing that’s made me mad is this little battle between Instagram, nee Facebook, and Twitter, and oddly enough it’s not affecting me because the programs I use on both my computer and my smartphone still give me what I’m used to seeing. Right now, other than the sudoku program I downloaded, it’s what I’m using to kill a lot of my time when I Feel like getting away from the computer for awhile.
And then…
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This is why sometimes writing posts in advance can kick you in the behind, because something could happen that makes me have to edit them. A couple of days after I wrote this Instagram came out with a directive saying they had the right to sell and market your photos without your knowledge and without paying you; well, that stinks. It goes into effect on January 16th, and if you’re not down with that you can download your photos and delete your account and you’ll be totally free from it all.
And then… The co-founder of Instagram, Kevin Systrom, came out with his own statement saying there are no plans to sell your photos less than 24 hours after the other statement. He said it was a misinterpretation based on a horribly written policy change… yeah, right…
What’s my plan? At this juncture I still love it, but I will change what I upload to it slightly. There are few pictures there that I’m worried about, and if I can delete just those few then I’m good. In general I upload pictures of things I see when I’m out, and if I write about those things and use them in a blog post I’m using the original image anyway. So anything else… go for it. With the billions and billions of images that are on that site, I’m doubting that, other than family or me, I’d even know if anyone wanted to use a picture I took. And with the quality… they’d have to be desperate. 🙂
By the way, over there to the right is a badge that links to my Instagram account if you’d like to check it out.
If a picture is worth a thousand words.
How much is a picture of a thousand words worth?
I agree with you on using instagram as a visual aid for your blog. This can be very useful and cool.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to use it for personal stuff because well, you just never know.
True Jacko, and I think that’s what everyone was thinking initially. After I gave it some thought I realized that I have few personal photos there, and if anyone really wanted to use them, they’d have to be desperate. lol
I too felt like you Mitch, loved it when it came out for Android. I felt a little miffed yesterday reading all the stuff on the privacy changes, etc. I don’t share many personal pics either, mostly of nature, etc. I have thought of using Flickr more. I’ll wait a few days and see what will shake out. But Instagram was SO easy!
Lisa, I won’t be switching to Flickr unless they had an easy way to share like Instagram does with the smartphones. Since the privacy things aren’t an issue anymore, I think we’re good.
Yesterday I saw title of post that says all user profile pictures at Instagram were owned by Facebook, I am not sure what does it mean as I just saw the title and I am not using the network. I’ve mentioned in one of my previous posts that I rarely take pictures with mobile phone, actually I never do, but always use my DSLR camera. Well, I am using Pinterest, but even high number of visits, quality of traffic is poor.
Carl, it means nothing, as I shared near the end of this post, since it’s been retracted.
Yeah, I know that it means nothing, at the end of the day, most of the photos or probably better say graphics that I share on social networks are related to work, some are my artwork and for others copyright belongs to respective authors. Certainly it will become a bigger mess, if they try to sell something that is already copyright protected.
I like Instagram S well, pretty much for the same reasons you’ve stated in your post.
Don’t quote me on the next part of this comment because I’m not sure I heard the news report correctly, but what I thought I heard was that Instagram was going to change the rules so that they retain the rights to all photos posted?
Sire, for shame; you didn’t read the entire post because I covered that nearer the bottom! lol
Reckon I’m no good at this speed reading lark so I suppose I have to go back to my normal style of reading. The old word for word style 😉
Yeah, you should know by now that you can’t speed read me! 🙂
I was appalled when I heard that they were going to have the right to sell your photos without your permission. Then I was watching the news last night with my Mom because I have dinner with her every night now and I saw where they retracted that statement. They should have thought about those repercussions before they put that out there. They should have known it wouldn’t be pretty.
I’ve never used the service Mitch because my phone is an older model. I do have an iPod but the pictures don’t come out real clear. Bummer…
Glad I never got started with that now.
~Adrienne
Adrienne, quality isn’t always the issue. For me, it was being able to share an image from wherever I am because it struck me to do so. That’s the one thing I felt like I was missing; when I blog about things they’ve already happened some time ago. But I can snap a picture and sent it to Instagram then and there. It doesn’t have to be great, just good enough. Even with your older phone it would work nicely enough.
I have not yet joined Instagram because I don’t need another distraction at this time; however,that’s on my list of thing to learn really soon. I also need to find out how cool the Blackberry app is. Thanks for sharing your review.
No problem Marcie. It definitely is a distraction but for me a fast one, unlike the sudoku application I downloaded. lol
Instagram is fun way to share photos but it has improved my business tremendously by making it possible to reach my customers on a more intimate scale. The best thing I like about this app is I am able to Geo-tag the uploaded images to give my followers an easy way to map where the photos are being taken, also inviting followers to post their own Instagram of their business product or service – which makes it easy to build relationships. I think it is a fantastic way to strengthen your relationship with your followers and show other your best work giving your business a small hit.
Great Article, Mitch.
That geo-location thing is interesting Nicol. I’m one of those old skool people who doesn’t like being tracked for the most part, but when I’m not in the mood to type in where I am it works great. I don’t have a lot of people connected to me; well, I don’t consider it a lot, which means I get few shares. But who knows, right? 🙂
Instagram is a great way for me to mix my business with a bit of my personal life. It allows my personality to come through allowing my customers a glimpse into who I am as opposed to a faceless business entity. I truly enjoy editing and sharing pics via Instagram.
Did you ever get the update with the newer filters Mitch?
I just uploaded my baked Christmas cookies to Instagram yesterday and noticed the Twitter share option was still there. I thought that option was pulled but it did actually send the tweet. The funny thing is I can’t find any of my Twitter pics to see if it was added from Instagram. I don’t know if it’s from the new layout or if all our pics were pulled. I can’t keep up with all of news and updates.
Brian, don’t over-think it, just go with it. 🙂 I didn’t get an update, but I found some other filters on the application. And I’ve still yet to use any of them; I like what I come up with just fine. 🙂