Facebook spent $1bil and all I got was this Instagram knockoff

So, we all know Facebook tricked $1 billion to jump the broom with Instagram (which still strikes me as an astronomical sum when people are jobless, homeless and starving). Yada, yada, yada, overpriced IPO, Zuch gets married, stock price drops, and then an IPO investigation. But life marches on. iOS users finally get to see the first-born of this overblown tech union. Facebook has released (available in the iTunes App Store) the first incarnation of their mobile photo app, aptly named Blue Ivy… Sike! It’s actually going to be called Facebook Camera (…yawn..). Some interesting features include: multiple photo sharing, add captions, tag friends, higher resolution photo uploads (2,048 by 2,048 pixels), basic edits and 15 filters (which were actually developed by Facebook, not Instagram).

Its all about mobile and photos

That Facebook has apparently had this app in development long before the Instagram acquisition kind of says that Facebook Camera really isn’t a result of the union but more of an extension of the features that have captured so many mobile users. Facebook has 900 million user base compared to Instagram 40 million so there is a gap to fill. And Facebook has openly admitted that it has a way to go in optimizing their mobile presence. This seems to be one of their opening salvos. As huge as a social media juggernaut Facebook has become, its seems that it’s most interesting opportunities for innovation will be found in the mobile arena. Photo sharing is a strong factor in how people use social media. The longer one stays engaged on social media sites, the more attractive those sites are to advertisers. Pinterest is finding this to work in their advantage quite well. Too bad Flickr never got to take advantage of their early entry into this arena.

I have never been an avid Facebook user. And in the past I have had some extremely mixed sentiments on Instagram and especially nerded out Instagram groupies (hella funny Instagrammer video). And neither of those two facts are likely to change because of this app. The video below is enticing but had you added any other logo onto the tagline I probably wouldn’t have noticed the difference. Have you downloaded and used Facebook Camera yet? Do you plan to? Are you on Android and can’t wait for them to port it over? Let us know in the comments below.