Instagram+Facebook= Facebook Camera

by Michael Sitver · May 26

When Mark Zuckerberg announced the acquisition of Instagram to the world, many wondered what Facebook would do with the acquisition. A few days ago Facebook answered that question with the release of Facebook Camera (Free).

The sweet new photosharing application is based off of Facebook’s current photosharing system and includes photos shared from anywhere on Facebook by your friends, but it is built off of Instagram’s social platform and structure. For starters, the interface for browsing is nearly identical. Facebook also added a small number of filters (likely built by the newly acquired Instagram team) to allow you to customize your photos, and cropping. While it’s certainly not as good as Instagram, nor is it a real competitor, it’s a step in the right direction for facebook. The selection of filters is fairly limited, but they are quality and sure to grow, and they aren’t all just stolen directly from Instagram. Photosharing is such a huge part of facebook and yet until this point the mobile platform was underdeveloped. This new system will popularize and make easier facebook photosharing from now on.

So does Facebook Photo Mark the beginning of the end for Instagram?

Certainly not. As facebook has said several times, They’re trying to grow their network and not just destroy another. A majority of the value of the acquisition was for the IP (Intellectual property) and the talented employees of Instagram. This is a good thing in my opinion and there is no evidence I have seen to the contrary.