Instagram spreads to the web. Good.
Today, photo sharing app, Instagram has finally graduated from mobile-only to a real web app, allowing Instagram users to view their friends’ photos with full interactivity option, taking the mobile experience directly to the web, which could help the company mend some of the fences broken after their Terms of Service debacle.
Instagram Co-Founder Kevin Systrom says the company has “been wanting to build for quite some time now,” and began their quest by launching web-based profiles last fall, allowing public profiles to be viewed from the web (but not interacted with), and private users to be viewed by approved friends logged in to the system.
It makes sense that the app was built and remained mobile-only for so long, as Systrom explains that “Instagram, at its core, is about seeing and taking photos on-the-go.”
Web browsing marries Facebook and Instagram
The company cites continuing down the path of online profiles, graduating to full interactivity via desktop, but we suspect it has more to do with Facebook, their owner, having interest in bringing the company’s offering closer in to their ad model which execs have hinted will soon be part of the service, marrying the two more closely together. Which makes sense from a business perspective.
Systrom added, “We believe that you should be able to access Instagram on a variety of different devices, any of which may be convenient to you at a given moment – including your desktop computer or tablet. We do not offer the ability to upload from the web as Instagram is about producing photos on the go, in the real world, in realtime. On the other hand, Instagram for the web is focused on making the browsing experience a fast, simple and enjoyable one.”
To start browsing online, go to Instagram.com and either sign up if you’re new, or click the “login” button at the top right.
