But that is how Facebook won the opening salvos of the ongoing social media competition. They had easy to use photo sharing wrapped in the veneer of social comm

But that is how Facebook won the opening salvos of the ongoing social media competition. They had easy to use photo sharing wrapped in the veneer of social commenting so people could share photos and interact with each other (about the photos) easily. As an anecdote, this was the compelling reason most everyone I knew migrated from Xanga over to FB--they could share all their photos and interact with their friends in one spot. Instagram took the whole photo sharing idea and ran with it to the next level to include multi-platform sharing and picture editing. Put a social wrapper of some sort around that, and you're back where FB was when it took off several years ago--exception being you have BETTER photos. TL;DR Photos win the social networking game. Good photo sharing + easy to use social == winning formula, see FB's early years and reasons for adoption.