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Monday, April 9, 2012

Instagram Is Facebook's Pinterest Killer - Forbes

facebook - Google News
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Instagram Is Facebook's Pinterest Killer - Forbes
Apr 9th 2012, 19:26

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 09:  In this photo illust...

Faced with its first serious competitor, Facebook has dropped a billion dollars to purchase Instagram, a photo-sharing service. Why? To drop a roadblock in front of Pinterest, the Facebook-on-training-wheels that has recently been all the rage. A few changes to Instagram and it can compete very effectively with Pinterest, with the added ability to interface with Facebook even more directly than it already does.

The alternative is to create a new service that has Pinterest in its crosshairs, rather than make any changes to the existing product. This is probably the best way for Facebook to head, with a separately branded "better Pinterest than Pinterest." I never liked the Pinterest name, anyway.

When I first read the headline, it didn't make sense. Why would Facebook spend a billion dollars on a photo-sharing anything? Why would Facebook promise to keep Instagram a separate service and invest in it? Then saw a screen grab of Instagram and all was clear: Pinterest and Instagram could easily be siblings, just make some minor changes and they could be almost identical.

By keeping the two services separate or creating a third, Facebook provides an option for the millions of users who like Pinterest's pinboard interface and simple feature set. By linking it to existing Facebook accounts, two logins become one, Instagram's pinboards can appear as part of a Facebook account and everybody gets what they want.

That makes the billion dollar investment look like absolute genius. Will it make Pinterest go away? Not real soon, but it gives Pinterest a huge competitor as quickly as the improved Instagram or new service can appear.

Having said how smart this is, I should mention that Facebook hasn't said this is the plan. But, if it isn't, Facebook would have thrown away a billion dollar opportunity to smite its most serious competitor so far.

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