But, after having played around with the product myself for about 20 minutes, I can appreciate that Instagram for Web is faster, simpler and less noisy than my Facebook profile. One obvious observation here is that the Web Profile design is reminiscent of Facebook’s Timeline, and it’s not a bold assumption that the company’s acquirer would have some influence on the startup, even to the point of hastening its move to web. Not an outright attempt to quash the flourishing third party ecosystem, Systrom says that Web Profiles are simply the next step in Instagram’s quest to give all users a “view of the world as it happens.” Unlike third-party apps, Instagram for web does not need you to actually log in to Instagram to actually browse photos. Systrom had little to say on how the company’s web presence will affect the ecosystem of third-party apps like Webstagram and Instagrid that have have thus far provided a de facto web functionality. Now it’s time to share Instagram with the broader world.” Right now Instagram is really contained to the mobile phone. We grew to 100 million users on mobile alone, so this is perfectly timed now that we’ve built a critical mass of users. “We’re not going to add web uploading, we’re still primarily mobile focused.” When asked why it took them so long to build a way to access the service from the web, he emphasized pacing: “It’s not about what took us so long. “It’s not the last thing you’re seeing from us on the web.”ĭespite this launch, Systrom makes it clear that the company is still primarily a mobile play. While Systrom wouldn’t reveal other future web functionality, or whether or not users will eventually be able to view a stream of photos from Instagram users they follow online, he did hint at more stuff in the works. Photos beneath the header are sorted chronologically. You can also change your name, bio and profile photo via the web, but not the random assortment of photos in your Facebook Timeline-esque header. You can Like and Comment on other users’ photos as in the past, in addition to being able to browse your own and other users’ photos, which is what the Instagram team wanted to focus on with this launch. The web profile functionality is still extremely stripped down and simple. “It’s hard to have a service like this without being able to view images online, and we didn’t want to limit Instagram behind a log-in.” “This allows you to have a single destination to point people at to see all your photos,” Instagram founder Kevin Systrom told me over the phone earlier today.
While it’s currently launched to a whitelist, the web functionality should roll out to all 100 million registered users by the end of this week. A little over two years after its iOS-only launch, eight months after its acquisition, five months after designer Cole Reinke leaked an image of Instagram’s efforts to bridge mobile and web, and one week after the company hit its most photographed event ever, Instagram has finally bulked up its web presence.Ĭiting overwhelming user demand as the motivation, the fourteen-person team behind Instagram has built a simplified web interface for User Profiles, viewable at (or whatever your username is).
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