[hurds]

So instagram basically is 1) photo filtering app 2) user base and thats how it has grown.

I see the value there up to this point. Obviously I'm not the first to say this but now that the Z10 has photo-filtering natively in the camera app (couldn't find anything aside from HDR on my iphone) I'm wondering if instagram is putting their 'business' model (quotes since I think they only revenue/money they made was being bought) at risk by not being on the BB10 platform. Basically the BB10 makes twitter and FB into instagram with the added benefit of a much larger user base and the added ability to post txt only.

It seems like a waste of FBs money to not try and grow instagrams users base but they don't exactly lose out if people just end up using FB how they've previously or begin using z10 filters like instagram is used.

Maybe I'm missing something but Instragramers? is there any added benefit to instagram? Any reason I'd want to use it as opposed to just using the z10 and posting to FB or twitter?

[SK122387]

It's more of a social network now. I have an Instagram account, but don't have a Facebook account, so Instagram would be the only way facebook would get data/ad info out of a person like me.

As for you and benefits you'd get, I don't know. If a whole bunch of your friends and family are on it, it might be fun. What I like about it is that i's not as consuming as facebook. It's not as immersive. You just scroll down, checkout your friends' pictures, Like them or comment on them, and that's about it. It's kind of cool the way you can search...if you search "Z10," you can see a bunch of pictures that people have hashtagged "#Z10." You can do that for anything. If you want to look at pictures of Hawaii all day, you can search #Hawaii and have fun.

To me, it's not really about the filters. Facebook has had photo albums forever. I think people like it because it's so simple, and you can ONLY take part in the photo sharing using your mobile device. It began as a real iPhone-only thing, and iPhone users were pretty outraged when Instagram became available for Android. It was funny, because as a BlackBerry user, I felt like I was above the fray..(even though I use Instagram on my iPod touch).

You should sideload Instagram if you have a Z10. Follow some of your friends, see if you like it. It's not going to change your life, but it's a nice little way to pass time if you follow the right people.

[FrankPCS]

Don't think the filters are the main draw anymore. There are loads of filter apps out there, but they do not match the pull of Instagram as the users are what keep people coming back. even Twitter added its own filters to the iOS and Android app, yet not many folks I follow use it - they still go back to Instagram.

Anyhow Instagram is still not making money. They have yet to integrate ads into the network. So unless they are selling user data, I'm sure FB is fine with just worrying about their iOS and Android user base.