“Instagram is one of the most beautiful and elegant products ever made… Simplicity makes it powerful.”
— Jack Dorsey, Founder of Twitter
Remember when social media was about real moments? Now it’s just endless scrolling through friends’ and influencers’ filtered adventures, oh and let's not forget memes and reels.
How many hours did you spend today down the Insta-rabbit hole?
For a change let’s scroll through Instagram's story and how it came into existence today…..
Imagine scrolling through a feed filled not with text updates, but with vibrant squares of your friends’ adventures, perfectly captured moments, and glimpses into their lives .
— Early Instagram visionary, name unknown
That’s the world Instagram built, a world where a picture truly is worth a thousand words. But how did this photo-sharing giant, used by over 2 billion people every month, come to be?
Ignoring the hardcore business and innovation lessons for a moment, Instagram’s story will take you back to a time of instant prints and camera rolls — a nostalgia like no other.
From Stanford Dorm Rooms to Silicon Valley Dreams: The Systrom and Krieger Duo
The story starts not in a swanky Silicon Valley office, but in the dorm rooms of Stanford University. Enter Kevin Systrom, a photography enthusiast with a knack for tech, and Mike Krieger, a coding whiz with a vision for social connection. Both were fueled by a desire to create something new, something that went beyond the dry world of text-based social media.
Systrom dreamt of a platform that captured not just “where” you were, but the essence of “being there.” Krieger, the tech maestro, envisioned the tools to bring that vision to life.
Together, they were a formidable duo, a photographer and a programmer with a shared dream.
Their first attempt, however, wasn’t quite the photo app we know today. It was called Burbn, inspired by Systrom’s love for bourbon (and perhaps a cool San Francisco bar of the same name). Burbn was a location-based app, that allowed users to check in, share plans, and post photos — a bit like a mashup of Foursquare and a photo album.
The idea wasn’t bad, but something felt off. Burbn felt cluttered, trying to be everything at once. As Systrom himself admitted, scratching his head in retrospect, “People just didn’t know what to do with it.”
The Eureka Moment
Here’s where things got interesting — at a party one night, amidst the usual chatter and laughter, Systrom noticed a trend. People weren’t glued to their phones checking in or updating their plans.
They were huddled around screens, captivated by the photos they were capturing and sharing. It was a light bulb moment.
The future, Systrom realized, wasn’t in location check-ins, but in the power of mobile photography.
The Birth Of Instagram And The Unique Selling Proposition
With newfound clarity, Systrom and Krieger went back to the drawing board. They stripped Burbn down to its core, focusing solely on mobile photography and photo-sharing.
This streamlining marked the birth of Instagram, a name that cleverly fused “instant camera” and “telegram,” hinting at the app’s ability to capture and share moments in real time.
The road from idea to an app used by billions wasn’t smooth sailing!
Back in 2010, photo-sharing wasn’t exactly a novel concept. Platforms like Flickr and Picasa were already established players. To truly stand out, Instagram needed a unique selling proposition.
Their answer?
A laser focus on mobile-first functionality and the introduction of photo filters was a groundbreaking feature at the time!
Legend has it that Systrom himself wasn’t entirely satisfied with the initial photo quality on iPhones. He tinkered with vintage film effects like X-Pro II, adding a touch of nostalgia and visual appeal to photos. This focus on aesthetics resonated with early users, setting Instagram apart from the competition!
Early smartphones were, well, let’s just say not quite the camera powerhouses they are today. Instagram’s team had to work hard to optimize the app for these limitations.
They implemented the now-iconic square-cropped photos, not just as a stylistic choice, but as a way to mitigate these technical constraints while offering a distinct aesthetic.
How do you get users on this new shiny app you ask?
User adoption is the lifeblood of any social media platform. Instagram, unlike its predecessors, launched strategically on the then-dominant iOS App Store, targeting a specific early adopter demographic.
They also fostered a sense of community by encouraging users to follow friends, explore trending hashtags, and engage in conversations. It wasn’t just about sharing photos; it was about connecting with the people behind the lens.
The Launch and The Big Bang: From a Garage to the App Store
“Instagram wasn’t just a photo-sharing app; it was a way of life.”
— Sarah Lacy, early adopter of Instagram and a tech blogger.
With the app polished and the vision clear, the big day arrived. On October 6, 2010, Instagram officially launched on the App Store. The response was nothing short of explosive!
The app garnered a staggering 25,000 users on the first day, and within two short months, that number skyrocketed to a million.
This wasn’t just user growth; it was a cultural phenomenon in the making. People were captivated by the ability to capture and share their world through a beautiful, easy-to-use interface.
It became a platform for everyday moments, travel adventures, artistic expressions, and everything in between.
How did the launch go so smoothly you ask?
It did not go smoothly! Behind the scenes, the Instagram team was grappling with different kinds of challenges — scaling up their infrastructure to accommodate the overnight surge in users.
Their initial setup, built for a much “smaller user base”, was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of requests.
Imagine this: the servers, initially running on a handful of Amazon EC2 instances (virtual servers in the cloud), were struggling to keep up with the constant stream of photo uploads, profile creations, and feed refreshes. Every notification, every like, every comment put a strain on their fledgling architecture.
The engineering team, fueled by adrenaline and a whole lot of pizza, went into overdrive. They implemented a technique called horizontal scaling, adding more EC2 instances to distribute the workload. This was akin to adding more lanes to a highway to handle increased traffic.
Too much data and a gasping database?
But adding more servers wasn’t the only solution. The team also had to tackle the “ballooning user database”. Their initial relational database, likely built on PostgreSQL, was groaning under the weight of millions of user-profiles and photo records.
To address this, they employed a strategy called sharding. This involved dividing the user base into smaller, more manageable chunks stored on separate databases. Think of it like splitting a massive library into different sections by genre, making it easier to find specific books (or, in this case, user profiles).
The experience became a crucial lesson for scaling applications in the cloud. They learned the importance of building with modularity and redundancy in mind, allowing for easier scaling as the user base grows.
The success of Instagram’s early scaling efforts paved the way for their eventual migration to Facebook’s robust infrastructure, a move that would allow them to handle billions of users with ease!
Well, was the app as smooth as it is today back in the day?
The Instagram team’s battle wasn’t just about handling a surge in users; it was also about ensuring a smooth experience for those users in a world where internet speeds weren’t what they are today. Back in 2010, mobile data plans were often capped, and Wi-Fi wasn’t ubiquitous.
This meant that every byte of data transferred mattered for a seamless user experience.
The User Experience And the Big Show-Off
“Instagram is a great example of how a mobile-first product can become a global phenomenon. It’s a testament to the power of simplicity and beautiful design.”
— Susan Wojcicki, CEO of Youtube
One key challenge back in the day was network latency. This meant that every byte of data transferred mattered for a seamless user experience.
Every time a user opened the app, their device had to communicate with Instagram’s servers, often located far away. This back-and-forth communication, especially for image-heavy content, could lead to frustrating loading times.
Furthermore, the initial versions of Instagram relied heavily on server-side processing. Every time a user refreshed their feed or viewed a profile, the server had to generate the entire feed or profile page dynamically. This put a significant strain on their server infrastructure, impacting scalability and user experience.
Caching to the rescue?
To address these issues back in the day, Instagram engineers turned to a powerful technique called caching. Caching essentially involves storing frequently accessed data closer to the user, reducing the need to constantly fetch it from the origin server (in this case, Instagram’s servers).
Imagine a well-stocked pantry in your kitchen. Instead of constantly running to the grocery store for basic ingredients, you have them readily available for quick access. Caching works similarly — it keeps a copy of frequently accessed data (like user profile pictures, and popular feed posts) on intermediary servers geographically distributed closer to the users.
Spreading the load through Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)!
One way Instagram implemented caching was through Content Delivery Networks (CDNs). CDNs are essentially networks of geographically distributed servers that store cached copies of static content like images, videos, and JavaScript files. When a user requests this content, it can be delivered from the nearest CDN server, significantly reducing latency compared to fetching it from the origin server.
Keep things local, use client-side caching!
In addition to CDNs, Instagram also likely employed client-side caching. This involves storing data like user preferences, recently viewed profiles, and even pre-rendered versions of frequently accessed pages on the user’s device itself. This way, the app could display this information without needing to make a network request every single time, leading to a faster and more responsive experience, especially for users with limited internet connectivity.
By implementing a multi-layered caching strategy with CDNs and client-side caching, Instagram significantly improved its app’s performance. Users experienced faster loading times, reduced data consumption, and a more overall enjoyable experience, regardless of their location or internet speed.
No other app was as smooth as Insta back in the day, and with Apple launching newer iPhones all over the world, Instagram was (and still is psss!) perhaps everyone’s way of life.
The Facebook Factor: A Billion Dollar Bet
“For years, people have asked us if we were going to build a photo-sharing app. We thought about it a lot, but we decided it would be better to focus on making the social features of Facebook the best they could be. And then Instagram came along and did exactly what we’d have wanted to do, only better.”
— Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta (formerly Facebook)
Instagram’s meteoric rise did not go unnoticed. In April 2012, Facebook, the social media giant, came knocking with a staggering offer: a cool $1 billion to acquire the young app.
This move sent shockwaves through the tech world. Here was a relatively new player, barely two years old, being valued at an astronomical sum.
Interestingly, Systrom and Krieger, despite the hefty price tag, were initially hesitant. They worried that Facebook’s involvement might stifle Instagram’s unique identity.
However, Facebook’s assurances of maintaining Instagram’s independence and fostering its growth proved persuasive. This marked a pivotal moment — a small startup, born in a garage, was now part of a social media empire!
The Growth Had Just Begun
The story of Instagram doesn’t end with the Facebook acquisition. The platform continuously evolved, adapting to user behaviour and technological advancements.
Did Instagram steal Facebook users to grow its user base you ask?
Nope! Android was the answer. Recognizing the importance of a wider user base, Instagram released its Android app in April 2012. This opened the door to a massive new audience and solidified its position as a leading social media platform. The year 2012 also saw the introduction of features like Explore and Direct Messaging, further enriching the user experience.
Not just that, with the rise of mobile video capabilities, Instagram jumped on the bandwagon in 2013, introducing short-form video sharing. This feature, inspired by the popular app Vine, allowed users to capture and share fleeting moments in motion. It was a new way to tell stories, express emotions, and showcase creativity.
Wonder how Instagram competed with then up-and-coming apps like Snapchat?
In 2016, Instagram took a page out of Snapchat’s playbook and launched Stories, a feature allowing users to share photos and videos that disappeared after 24 hours. This feature resonated with younger demographics who craved a more authentic and unfiltered experience. Stories quickly became a major driver of user engagement, surpassing even photo posts in daily usage.
Happily Growing Ever After
As Instagram grew, a new “breed” of online personalities emerged — influencers. These individuals leveraged their large following to promote brands and products. This influencer marketing phenomenon transformed how businesses interacted with consumers on the platform. However, with an increasing user base and content saturation, Instagram’s algorithm took centre stage. The platform transitioned from a purely chronological feed to a curated one, prioritizing content based on user engagement and interests.
This change sparked debate, with some users lamenting the decline of organic reach for personal accounts. We will leave it there for now, or at least for this blog post……
Instagram’s journey isn’t over yet. It’s like a tightrope walker, trying to find the sweet spot between keeping users hooked and being a responsible platform.
They’re constantly adding new tricks, like those bite-sized video Reels to compete with TikTok, and even letting you shop right through live streams. But the big question is: can they stay on top while tackling issues like mental health, fake news, and the ever-changing social media game?
It’s a tough act to balance — keeping things creative and connected, but also making sure everyone has a healthy experience. Only time will tell if Instagram can find that perfect balance for its massive audience.
