Instagram: What it’s all about

“Take a photo of me!”. How many times have those words burned your ears from your friends? I am a victim of the role of photographer just so my bestfriend can have something to post on Instagram.

Have you noticed how almost everybody owns a smartphone/tablet running on either iOS or Android? I thought I should throw in my 2 cents and help some of you who are scared to join Instagram to actually jump on the bandwagon. You’re probably on Twitter and Facebook right? Now imagine something like a combination of both. Perfect!

The main purpose of Instagram is to present yourself to the world in pictures, (cue in the “a picture says a thousand words” quote) So you can put up a pic of anything and add a comment to it, hashtags and all, and put them up for all your followers to see. Plus, you can also share these to Facebook or Twitter so you friends who are not on Instagram can see them too.

So first you download the Instagram app on your device. Sign up and create your profile and voila! You’re good to go. Depending on what device you’re using you should be able to send pics directly from your gallery to Instagram. The best part about the app is you can edit your pics to suit you. There are some filters that just make pics seem richer and more alive (I will swear by these filters that they make me look way hotter!)

As if that isn’t cool enough you can also upload 15 second videos and apply filters too. You can upload videos from your device or record directly from Instagram itself. Instagram has even upgraded their edit options which you can read about here.

The main features according to Google Play Store are:

• Linear and Radial Tilt-Shift blur effects for extra depth of field
• Instant sharing to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr and Foursquare
• Unlimited uploads
• Send photos and videos directly to friends
• Interact with friends through giving & receiving likes and comments

The hashtags you incorporate in your photo/video comment will help you to discover more people and their pics with the same hashtags. It’s an easy way to connect with people of similar taste.

It’s a great way to keep in touch with friends all over the world and have memories we treasure in one place, but don’t think it’s only for play. Instagram is also great for businesses to showcase their products, commenting with things like prices, contact details, etc.

So, get that app today here. It’s easy!!!

Picture Credits: Android Portal, Javamazon, Gizbot