So how are Facebook Camera and Instagram different?
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A few months ago Facebook was reportedly working on its own photo sharing app for Apple’s iPhone after images of the new feature leaked online. Although Facebook never confirmed the rumours, the reports probably caused some concern among third-party app developers already operating on the social network and among social networks like Instagram and PicPlz.
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After the Instagram buyout a few weeks ago, we thought Mark Zuckerberg would have dumped this project and Facebook would simply focus in an integration of Instagram photo-sharing tools over a medium term. But NO! Facebook is today promoting its brand new photo-sharing service Facebook Camera.
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So why did Facebook buy Instagram?
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As I said in a recent article about the Instagram purchase, there was no reason to worry. Facebook had its own strategy in terms of photo-sharing and the Instagram deal was above all strategic. Facebook was secretly developing its own photo-sharing app and just launched it today on iTunes.
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So how are Instagram and Facebook Camera different?
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Facebook Camera simplifies “instantaneous” photo-sharing from your mobile and allows you to upload directly your mobile pics to your Facebook profile (see video here).
It’s simply a new way of seamlessly following your friends’ pics on Facebook and uploading pics when you’re away from your desktop.
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You can share one or several photos in a snap with Facebook Camera and see what friends are up to with a feed of nothing but their photos.
Facebook Camera has no “Comment” or “Likes” as we have in Instagram.
– You can post multiple photos from your camera roll in one go before you get home.
– You can crop and apply filters to give your photos a “new look” but with a lot fewer filters than Instagram
– You can scroll down a single feed of all your friends’ photos and it’s definitely an Instagram inspired design.
– You can tag your friends, add photo captions and say where you are. Probably focused to support “Facebook Places” Geo-loc tool.
– You can see photos from the different apps your friends use too – a great tool.
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Instagram is much more than a simple photo-sharing app with vintage filters.
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Although it looks like Instagram, Facebook Camera’s “essence” is profoundly different from Instagram’s.
– Facebook is you. With your real name. Instagram is a nickname with a different user not always related to your “real” life.
– We use Instagram to discover and meet new people through pics – not so with “Facebook Camera”.
– Facebook Camera is just a new way to share your pics within the Facebook “universe” and a new way to browse your friends pics.
– Facebook Camera shares with: Friends who are already friends. Instagram shares with: 60 million potential friends and growing.
– “Likes” and “Comments” sound similar in Facebook and Instagram but are actually very different things in the daily use of each platform. On Instagram, photos generate a lot of interaction, with likes and comments. On Facebook, we’d usually only comment on relevant things relating to a photo.
– Instagram’s filters are really just a way of drawing in new subscribers. After using IG for a while, you move onto more sophisticated photo editing apps. Facebook Camera is an attempt to boost photo-sharing on the mobile without missing out on the mobile photography trend.
– Tagging your friends on the new Facebook Camera helps you keep a high users visit frequency and stickiness. Nothing new. In Instagram, we only tag friends in a Twitter Way but there is no “tracking” of the pics you have been tagged in.
– Geo-tag your pics supporting “Facebook Places” strategy. Instagram has its own “Geo-location” tool linked to “Foursquare maps” but could integrate Facebook Places content one day?
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As you can see, as Instagramers, there is no reason to worry. Facebook Camera is not the beginning of the end for Instagram. It´s just a way to sustain Facebook interest and stickiness.
In further posts, I will develop more topics around Facebook/Instagram different strategies.
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Let´s Instagram the world!
@philgonzalez
Thanks to Richard @Rugfoot for his kind help in “translation” lol.
