Why Instagram has become a rage across the world

If you thought rose-tinted visions of life don't pay in the end, you obviously have not heard about Instagram. This online photo, and recently video, sharing network has become so popular it has a cult following big enough to sustain a new stream of photography, complete with its trademark square frames and film camera-inspired filters. Instagram is also an instant shot at fame, provided that picture of your last meal or latest shirt is able to capture eyeballs within the few minutes it is on timelines across the globe. Success and failure are both instant here.

So, what makes Instagram click? Soujanya Bhumkar, CEO of photo aggregator app Cooliris, says it is all about its simplicity and speed. "It took away the decision about what you had to share and made everyone a photographer. It has changed the definition of consumer photographers," says the California-based entrepreneur. "We always use them as an example. It chose not to complicate things and kept everything simple. It also hasn't lost focus."

Instagram started in October 2010 as an iPhone-only app. A year later, when it was named iPhone app of the year, it had become popular enough for people to start using the term iPhonography for pictures clicked with the app. But the world really took notice when Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion, about a quarter of the social networking giant's cash in hand before its IPO.

Tim Shepherd, Canalys' global research lead for apps, says it is difficult to divorce thinking around Instagram from Facebook. "There is a sizeable app ecosystem developed and developing further around Instagram ... But there is also a sizeable ecosystem around Facebook, and as integration between Instagram and its parent organisation (and proposition) improves, this is only likely to extend," he says. He adds that Instagram must be considered within the context of Facebook's mobile strategy. "Ultimately, targeted mobile advertising looks likely to be the primary means of monetisation. As a mobile proposition, they may though, also look to leverage the freemium model with payment charged for the use of new features and social tools."

Instagram was not an early hit in India, where the iPhone is still a top-end phone. But with Apple making the phone more affordable and with Instagram available on Android, more Indians are getting hooked to the app. Instagram did not provide the number of users in India, but Shepherd estimates it to be in the "low single-digit millions". Among them are self-confessed Instagram addicts such as Bangalore-based social media manager Abdul Basith. "I started with Instagram when I got my first iPhone about two-and-a-half years ago. Incidentally, my first picture was of my shoes. I lost interest in between, but then got hooked again and the likes on my photos became an addiction. For a year, everything I saw was through the square 1:1 frame," he says. Basith's Instagram moment came when one of his photos got picked up by Mashable. "Then VJ Nikhil Chinnappa, one of my Instagram followers, tweeted I was one of the best iPhonographers in India."

While Basith was inspired enough by his success on Instagram to invest in a DSLR, Mumbai-based photojournalist Chirag Wakaskar uses the app to get feedback for his pictures. "Otherwise our pictures are viewed only by our editors. We photographers too like appreciation and feedback," says Wakaskar, who adds that the camera is still his first choice. At the other extreme are users such as Jaipur-based language expert Priyanshu Sharma, who uses the app as a mission to provide a good picture of India to the world. He has been successful and is one of the most followed Instag-rammers out of India. "Most of my followers are not Indian and I make sure the world is seeing what I am in my country."

Along with its 130 million (see Global Cult) followers, Instagram has also spawned hundreds of apps such as Hipstamatic that cater to the need for more filters and tweaks that will capture attention in seconds. One of them is ToonCamera by Code Organa, which has over three million users globally and "a few tens of thousands" in India. "Instagram has become the top sharing option within our app for images, edging out Twitter and Facebook recently," says Mike, a partner in Code Organa.

The prints and products ecosystem prevalent in countries like the US is also finding ground in India. Mumbai-based photographer Vipul Arora started thesmilestore.wix.com after he failed to find any takers for 4x4 prints of his Instagram pictures. "The shops that did this were charging a premium as they had to print on larger paper and cut it to this size," says Arora, who launched the online photo printing service for Indian Instagram users this February. "Instagram is not as popular here as in the US. But I still manage to get around 30 orders a month," says Arora, who charges Rs 249 for a set of 12 prints. He has outsourced all his work to a printer and has launched other products like calendars and postcards too.

While media giants such as Time magazine and The New York Times use Instagram successfully, a range of companies from shipping giant Maersk Line to fashion house Oscar de la Renta use the app to reach out to their audience. Indian brands are likely to follow once the app's popularity grows. But entrepreneurs such as Mumbai-based Smita Rajagopal already use it to "leave a big digital footprint". Rajagopal, who has a weakness for the Amaro filter on the app, says following creative people and seeing what they capture is what draws her to the app. So, have you instagrammed yet?