4 ms·

Instagram Now Adding 130,000 Users Per Week

26 points by BvS 16y ago

naithemilkman 16y ago
Wow, they completely exposed their data set. Don't see many companies giving away cohort retention details like this.
- chrismiller 16y ago
  The post was written by a 3rd party and not Instagram. The last section of the article explains how they managed to get the data: "Four things allowed us to conduct this analysis: Instagram’s new API, their use of incrementing ID numbers to represent users and photos, the central limit theorem"
  - dreamux 16y ago
    Unfortunately, this isn't very rigorous - the dataset can easily be gamed by instagram.
    - ajays 16y ago
      If the Instagram guys have read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_tank_problem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_tank_problem , they might be having a good laugh...
  - naithemilkman 16y ago
    Well my point was more that Instagram exposed enough data such that RJ Metrics were able to get access to enough information to extrapolate the cohort retention rates.
joebananas 16y ago
And I have to wonder how many of those users will come to regret that they shot all their babby-pictures in some deliberately cruddy format instead of the best possible available to them.
- dabent 16y ago
  If I take a photo with my iPod, I know it's really low quality to start, so I don't take things I'm going to archive with it. Hopefully others do the same. But I also take pictures with the camera app first, save them to the camera roll and then pull them into Instagram/picplz if I want to share them. That way, I've got to versions if I want to get all retro with what I'm sharing. Or I can just share the picture as-is.
- pclark 16y ago
  You can ask Instagram to save the photo unfiltered too.
  - joebananas 16y ago
    But people don't.
    - mpc 16y ago
      I do.
    - jsm386 16y ago
      I've been using Instagram casually for a couple of weeks while I've been playing with the API and I never realized this was even an option. A line of text on the profile tab of the app, 'More options are in the Settings app' is confusing. I wonder what the reason for sticking that option over there is? If it had been on the app's settings/profile tab I would have set it a while ago.
      - pclark 16y ago
        it's a (somewhat stupid) iOS recommended design pattern
- dailo10 16y ago
  True, it's not a DSLR picture. But they're making it so much easier for amateurs to edit and share a photo they just took with their phone... versus having to transfer a photo to computer, edit it, upload it, and then share it.
beck5 16y ago
This sort of story reminds me no idea has (or can) been executed perfectly, a year ago I would have said Flickr has photo sharing sewn up...
- bmelton 16y ago
  I still agree that they do, for one. I mean, obviously, the market is fickle, and will go where other people are, even if it's not the best tool on the market -- but Flickr's toolset is amazing and insanely capable. The major difference though, is that Instagram has carved out a niche in the photo sharing market that Flickr doesn't have -- casual, lower-quality photos. IMO, Flickr (and SmugMug, to a large degree) became the place to go if you're a serious, or at least semi-serious photographer. More value is placed on the quality and 'interestingness' of the photo -- the majority of those photos are taken via DSLRs and high-quality gear, not iPhones / Androids. I don't necessarily see Instagram as competition to Flickr, but I think it's safe to say that if Yahoo keeps Flickr stagnant, we'll see others gaining traction in this space as well.
dailo10 16y ago
That's impressive growth! They've carved out a niche for mobile photo sharing with their iPhone app. Now they're letting developers extend on the web via the API. People usually talk about viral growth on Facebook, but Instagram has recreated it on the iPhone platform. And they haven't even released their Android version yet!

26 points by BvS 16y ago

naithemilkman 16y ago

Wow, they completely exposed their data set. Don't see many companies giving away cohort retention details like this.

chrismiller 16y ago
The post was written by a 3rd party and not Instagram. The last section of the article explains how they managed to get the data: "Four things allowed us to conduct this analysis: Instagram’s new API, their use of incrementing ID numbers to represent users and photos, the central limit theorem"
- dreamux 16y ago
  Unfortunately, this isn't very rigorous - the dataset can easily be gamed by instagram.
  - ajays 16y ago
    If the Instagram guys have read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_tank_problem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_tank_problem , they might be having a good laugh...
- naithemilkman 16y ago
  Well my point was more that Instagram exposed enough data such that RJ Metrics were able to get access to enough information to extrapolate the cohort retention rates.

joebananas 16y ago

And I have to wonder how many of those users will come to regret that they shot all their babby-pictures in some deliberately cruddy format instead of the best possible available to them.

dabent 16y ago
If I take a photo with my iPod, I know it's really low quality to start, so I don't take things I'm going to archive with it. Hopefully others do the same. But I also take pictures with the camera app first, save them to the camera roll and then pull them into Instagram/picplz if I want to share them. That way, I've got to versions if I want to get all retro with what I'm sharing. Or I can just share the picture as-is.
pclark 16y ago
You can ask Instagram to save the photo unfiltered too.
- joebananas 16y ago
  But people don't.
  - mpc 16y ago
    I do.
  - jsm386 16y ago
    I've been using Instagram casually for a couple of weeks while I've been playing with the API and I never realized this was even an option. A line of text on the profile tab of the app, 'More options are in the Settings app' is confusing. I wonder what the reason for sticking that option over there is? If it had been on the app's settings/profile tab I would have set it a while ago.
    - pclark 16y ago
      it's a (somewhat stupid) iOS recommended design pattern
dailo10 16y ago
True, it's not a DSLR picture. But they're making it so much easier for amateurs to edit and share a photo they just took with their phone... versus having to transfer a photo to computer, edit it, upload it, and then share it.

beck5 16y ago

This sort of story reminds me no idea has (or can) been executed perfectly, a year ago I would have said Flickr has photo sharing sewn up...

bmelton 16y ago
I still agree that they do, for one. I mean, obviously, the market is fickle, and will go where other people are, even if it's not the best tool on the market -- but Flickr's toolset is amazing and insanely capable. The major difference though, is that Instagram has carved out a niche in the photo sharing market that Flickr doesn't have -- casual, lower-quality photos. IMO, Flickr (and SmugMug, to a large degree) became the place to go if you're a serious, or at least semi-serious photographer. More value is placed on the quality and 'interestingness' of the photo -- the majority of those photos are taken via DSLRs and high-quality gear, not iPhones / Androids. I don't necessarily see Instagram as competition to Flickr, but I think it's safe to say that if Yahoo keeps Flickr stagnant, we'll see others gaining traction in this space as well.

dailo10 16y ago

That's impressive growth! They've carved out a niche for mobile photo sharing with their iPhone app. Now they're letting developers extend on the web via the API. People usually talk about viral growth on Facebook, but Instagram has recreated it on the iPhone platform. And they haven't even released their Android version yet!