Why Photo Sharing Via Instagram Is the Next Big Social Wave

Photo sharing will outpace all other social networks because of the tremendous growth in smart phone adoption projected to exceed 12 billion by 2015 and a preference for images over text.

The graph above shows the projected growth of smartphone accounts broken down by Android, iPhone, Blackberry, Windows and others. The projections for Windows seem surprising given their current market share in the U.S., but no matter which smart phones users select it is likely they are sharing photos and will eventually be using Instagram.

There is no shortage of photo sharing apps and some boast as many as
a million readers, but Facebook owning Instagram gives them the edge.

PHOTO SHARING APP GROWTH

In Why Your Business Needs to Be on Instagram, we shared another graph that shows that Internet users are already spending more time in photo sharing apps and videos than in any other activity including music.

Multiply billions of smart phones by increasing time spent sharing photos and you
have an unstoppable trend you need to join to promote your business or blog.

Remember that Facebook is now charging for promoted posts – necessary if you want to make sure your friends, family, fans or customers actually see your updates. Even if you pay you may only be reaching fake Facebook accounts and people in other countries.

If that is not enough evidence for you, consider this:

Instagram just announced that all users will be given their own
auto-generated Web page they call Instagram Profile Pages.

Convinced yet? The major media, commercial advertising, and educational systems have combined to reduce attention spans to the point that most will only watch 30 seconds of video and prefers images to words. While there will always be people who love to research, learn complex subjects, and write blog posts and even books, they are a tiny minority.

The masses want instant gratification in picture form!
If you want to reach them you have to give them what they want.

Images and short videos can reach both those who like to read and think and the masses who prefer to be entertained and prefer photos and videos.

If you want to reach this huge audience you have to start using Instagram and that means you have to have an iOS iPhone or Android smart phone with the Instagram app installed.

Anyone with Internet access can now see photos that have been publicly shared on Instagram,
but you have to have the app installed to open an account or have a page there.

Murray Newlands shared some tips about Instagram and their new Profile Pages in Future of Engagement:

• Announced Web pages that look like Facebook
• Instagram growing quickly and already has 100 million users
• Add a link to your Instagram profile from your Web site and social media profiles

There are more tips in a previous episode that included How to Use Instagram. Instagram comes with some built-in analytics, but you may want to check out the new featured in Alerti that provide Facebook demographics stats and social media monitoring for Instagram.

You can get a free trial social media monitoring account from Alerti.
Use bonus code alertivideo when you sign up to extend your trial from 30 to a full 90 days.