Facebook’s Next Big Step: Instagram for the Web?

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Facebook’s Next Big Step: Instagram for the Web?

A report from Tech Crunch suggested the possibility that Facebook will soon launch an Instagram for the web after acquiring the mobile photo sharing app developer for $1 billion last April.

The report cited an observation posted by Cole Reinke, a web designer who believe that Instagram is running a test on the expansion of its mobile photo sharing app. When Reinke visited his account on the Instagram’s website, he noticed a new “View Profile” link. He clicked it but the result is a 404 error page. This led the Tech Crunch writer to conclude that Instagram for the web maybe coming soon.

Facebook’s Next Big Step: Instagram for the Web?
Source: Pixabay

After closing the deal with Instagram, Facebook made a commitment to “build and grow Instagram independently.”  The social networking giant also promised to support it with its infrastructure and strong engineering team.

One interesting fact, which was mentioned by the report was an interview conducted by Time Magazine with Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom. He was asked if he had plans in building Instagram out over the web. He did not provide a direct answer, but he emphasized that the company will do something big and their focus on mobile.

Here is what he said during the interview:

“We are fully sold on the fact that if we’re going to do big, meaningful stuff we need to take on networks. We believe mobile is that. The iPhone is the first time I felt like mobile really had a chance to scale hundreds of millions of people and be a platform where you can build on that platform. There’s no coincidence that we launched when iPhone 4 launched with its revamped camera. That was not a coincidence at all. It’s the right time for us.

You can’t take a desktop experience and shove it into a 3-by-4-in screen. It’s a very different behavior pattern. It’s a very different browse pattern. People interact with their phones very differently than they do with their PCs and I think that when you design from the ground up with mobile in mind, you create a very different product than going the other way.”

At present, Instagram has more than 50 million users and perhaps Facebook believes that it is time for the company to do something big. An Instagram on the web will definitely provide better experience for its millions of users to share their photographs.

Perhaps Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is planning to position Instagram to become the largest photo sharing social network.

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