Timing and Exposure

How Instagram Has Developed Through the Years

By: Grace Midtgard, Social Media Manager

With over 2 billion active daily users today, it’s hard to believe that the social media platform Instagram was added to the app store only 15 years ago. In just a decade and a half, the platform has evolved to both start trends and fit trends. Let’s take a look at how the platform has evolved from a simple “instant camera” app to a central hub for both personal expression and commercial activity.

In 2010, the app was launched with the purpose of being the cell phone’s version of an “instant camera”—a scrapbook turned social media if you will. A mere two years after launch, there were already 40 million active users who were snapping photos of their everyday lives and using Instagram’s free editing tools to share their pictures with their friends and family. At this point in time, Instagram’s purpose was very casual and offered an insight into a user’s everyday life through a lens. Facebook recognized the quick success of the platform and decided to purchase it in 2012. Now this “social media ecosystem” is known as Meta.

Once acquired by Facebook, the platform began to quickly evolve. In 2013, they leveled up their photo-only platform to allow the ability for 15-second videos to be posted – following the trend of the new, quickly growing social media platform Vine – which allowed users to post 6-second videos. In 2016, Instagram expanded its video support, allowing videos up to 60 seconds long to be posted. Since then, they’ve introduced “Reels,” but more on that later.

The ability to post videos in 2013 wasn’t the only new feature to come out that year. It was also when Instagram shifted from a casual, consumer-only social media platform to allowing ads, giving brands a space to reach over 50 million active users. At the time, ads were really just sponsored posts to get more eyes on the brand page. They did not have the ability to add a button like “shop now” or “learn more.” Those features came down the line. Businesses can now use specific buttons like those to target hyper-specific audiences and pull real-time data about their ad campaign results.

In 2016, Instagram followed yet another trend, this one sparked by Snapchat. Snapchat, the instant disappearing photo-only conversation social media platform, had great success with stories, a feature that allowed a user to post something for all their friends/followers to see but only for 24 hours before disappearing forever. Instagram decided to add that feature to their platform as well, at first catching some heat for “copying” Snapchat. But now, it’s a feature used more often than main feed posting on Instagram.

Another huge feature was added the following year—carousels. This allowed users to share not only 1 image at a time but now 10! This meant that users could now do 1 post with all of their stunning vacation images, instead of 10 separate ones. You could say that the term “photo dump” was birthed by this new feature in 2016.

The latest major update to Instagram is the new post type, Reels. As we all know, short-form video has taken social media by storm. Now, nearly every social media platform is pushing video content to their users—YouTube Shorts, TikToks, Facebook/Instagram Reels. Both personal accounts and brand pages use these short-form videos to participate in trending sounds, dances, and even pranks. It has allowed businesses to show a more human, humorous, and relatable side to their brands, meeting their customers where they are.

Social media users know that nowadays, the updates that happen to their platforms change literally daily. Recent updates, like AI-powered chat tools that offer personalized recommendations and extended Reels that now allow videos up to three minutes, make it clear that Instagram is committed to keeping interactions fresh and engaging—and we’re here for it.

The &Barr social media team studies these daily updates to ensure they’re aware of any algorithm changes, optimizing their strategy. While oftentimes exhausting, it’s what makes the job so exciting. If you ever feel overwhelmed by the never-ending updates, let &Barr lend a hand.

Photo Source:

1000 Logos, Instagram Logo, Aug 30, 2024