Instagram founder Kevin Systrom is probably the luckiest person in the whole tech world.

Absrtact: Kevin Systrom, founder of Instagram, may be the luckiest person in the entire tech world. Here, we're not saying he's not working hard enough, just that the photo-sharing application Instagram he created 3 years ago is too

Kevin Systrom, founder of Instagram, may be the luckiest person in the entire tech world. Here, we're not saying he's not working hard enough, just that the photo-sharing application Instagram that he created 3 years ago is going too well.

In the Observer's London office, the Observer, a software engineer born in Boston, sits comfortably on the couch, showing a calm, dispassionate attitude. Indeed, for a character who sold his company 1 billion dollars to Facebook at the age of 28, he should be prepared for everything that could happen in the future, especially the strategy of Instagram how to make a profit in the future.

Filter Fan Bureau

"At present, Instagram users upload 55 million photos every day, so for us, photo browsing and discovery has always been a strength." If you see something interesting happening in Syria or Egypt, we want to be able to deliver your voice to the world. Also, it is interesting to find a balance between the human editor and the machine algorithm, because no one can anticipate the angle of a person's view of an event. "said Systrom.

Now, most of the content on the Instagram platform is heavily saturated, using a lot of filter effects of nostalgic style photos, the details of the pictures are all the same, mostly sunset, iron art or cute children. Systrom admits that Instagram users have shown some "filter fatigue" symptoms, but he still believes that the presence of filters can help users edit their lives easily.

"I think a filter is a different tone that records a moment in your life, so we allow users to edit their feelings and perceptions." "Systrom said.

He then gave us a further explanation with the film "Drug Network" (traffic) as an example. "The Drug Network", which uses different techniques to tell audiences 3 different stories, Systrom said: "We allow users to use a similar approach to their own lives." What's more, the more and more filters we're introducing will only make a slight difference to the imaging effect. Because if the user changes the content of the photos too clearly, you will obviously not be able to continue to look at the photos in 20 years. We want users to be able to preserve their content on the Instagram platform and still be able to show their worth in 5-10 years, rather than just being flashy pictures.

It is important to note that Instagram's popularity in recent years has been particularly interesting, as it has found a way to cover its services to a large number of mainstream user groups that do not care about the false exuberance of Silicon Valley. In addition, the application of a very simple image sharing method also helps it in a short period of time to accumulate 150 million of users.

Mobile strategy

To be sure, Instagram's "move first" strategy has always been the key to the company's success, which is one of the reasons why Facebook ultimately decided to buy Instagram. So Facebook also needs to prove to the user that it's ready to shift to the mobile business.

"We don't have a choice, if we ask users to sign up for a service at the Web end, and then help them upload a picture of the event that happened 5 hours ago, Instagram won't get the desired result." The special thing about Instagram is that the pictures you see are uploaded through the user's friends in real time. "Systrom said.

In addition, Systrom also talked about restrictions on the size of the mobile device screen. At present, many advertisers believe that the limitations of mobile device screen size is a problem, but systrom that such restrictions on the other hand brings creative advantages.

"The limitations of the mobile device screen have their own aesthetic sense, and there is no limit to the space can be an imposing bully feeling." Therefore, we provide users with such a limited space and tell them to focus only on a small area of this photo. This kind of information is very cordial, and also is one of the reasons why users love Instagram. ”

In fact, even in the world of Mark Zuckerberg's engineering Zuckerberg, there is no computer algorithm that can be based on the Golden Section theorem to determine which picture is most aesthetically pleasing. It is reported that Instagram currently only 6 community editors need to handle 150 million users upload photos, they usually recommend the type of picture including the Chinese Qingming Festival related photos.

Business model

Instagram first introduced a short video service in June 2013, but the service failed to beat Twitter's short video service Vine. At the same time, Systrom declined to provide data on the popularity of Instagram video services among users, as he did not want to spark undue expectations of the service. Most advertisers still rely on traditional TV platforms, but the 15-second short video service provided by Instagram and Vine looks designed for them (Instagram's first advertising product will be launched later this year).

Systrom said: "The advertising market has great potential, but we will not launch new products just for advertising." Instagram existing photo Stream + user Comment form has been accepted by many other mobile applications. So, this has become a very compact way of delivering information, and developers can build a better business around this model. ”

At the end of the interview, Systrom also talked about Google (Weibo) glasses. Google Glasses integrates augmented reality technology with a built-in camera that can take photos and videos. For Instagram, Google glasses This can be recorded at any time the life of the device is simply any one picture sharing service perfect match. Systrom said he would never let go of this opportunity.

"We will become ubiquitous, Instagram services will cover all platforms, mobile phones, tablets and wearable computing equipment, and become the core channel for people to share information." Five years later, I hope to see not only the Instagram from my friends, but also the morning news from different channels. In other words, I want Instagram to be the window through which the user understands the world. ”