Facebook buys photo application for $1billion

Atlanta News.Net Tuesday 10th April, 2012

WASHINGTON - Facebook has purchased Instagram, a photo sharing application, for $1 billion, the largest acquisition by the most popular social networking site in its nine-year history

The social networking giant's founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the deal on his Facebook page.

"For years, we've focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family. Now, we'll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests," Zuckerberg wrote.

Zuckerberg said some of Instagram's features would be adopted into Facebook's existing infrastructure, and stressed that the application will also run as an independent company.

"Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people."

"We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, the ability to not share your Instagrams on Facebook if you want, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook."

The app, created by 28-year-old Kevin Systrom less than two years ago, allows amateur photographers on smart phones to add filters and add visual flair to snapped photos.

Instagram has over 30 million iPhone users but has only 13 employees, supporting the widely popular photo app.

The deal has triggered a backlash from the loyal users of the application.

Some Instagram supporters in their tweets urged people to uninstall the app because profit-making Facebook would change its unique brand forever.

Tweets included: "I had a higher opinion of you Instagram" and "Pray for Instagram".