Instagram App Isn't A Game Changer, But It's Fun
October 7, 2010
There are hundreds of apps available that are designed to make your pictures look better or different. The newest arrival is Instagram by the folks at Burbn, Inc.
When it comes to photo editing, Instagram doesn’t do anything that hasn’t already been done in other apps. However, one nice difference is that the app is free right now in the App Store. Plus, it provides a simple way to share your photos on most of the popular social networking sites.
After downloading the app, you are asked to establish a free Instagram account. Once this is complete, the app will ask to scan your contacts list to see if any of your friends are also using the Instagram app. None of mine were. Then, the app asks you to establish a connection to either your Facebook or Twitter account. This second part is optional.
Until I recognized that one of the app’s main selling points was its social networking integration, I felt the registration process was a little bit pushy and intrusive. But, it is a necessary step if you want to use the app as it was intended. In fact, if Instagram is unable to gather a large group of users, it will quickly fade into obscurity.
After establishing your contact information, the fun begins. The app will allow you to take a new picture (with or without the iPhone’s flash). Or, you can use a photo already on your device.
Once you select your photo you can alter it using one of 11 different custom filters that will change the photo's color, mood, border or tonality.
Finally, you can then share the photo with your friends on Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Tumblr or Foursquare. You can also tell your friends what the photo is and where it was taken. Photos can then be rated by other users of the Instagram app.
As you add photos to your social networking feeds, they become cataloged within the app itself, which is nice. You can also review which photos are the most popular among all Instagram users.
The Instagram app is available today in the App Store. This is definitely one you should download, if only to check it out. After all, it is available for free.
