Tag Archives: instagram

What’s Trending in Technology: Instagram- what libraries need to know

by Jessica Posted on December 20, 2012

When Instagram came out, the growth was huge. It spread like wildflowers with unique filters and sharing with friends. Then Facebook bought them for a cool 1 billion and the users grew even more. Now they want to sell us out. What did we think?

Instagram dropped the bomb that they were going to sell “our” pictures in their new Privacy Policy & Terms of Service. Then the Instagram universe cried out in disgust. Instagram listened and made some changes, saying they won’t sell our photos to advertisers. Here is what we need to know.

This information was released from Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram in a blog post on their site entitled,  “Thank you and we are listening”

Advertising on Instagram: The initial language made it seem like they were going to sell your photos; this is not their intention. They are rewording and updating the language in the terms of service to make sure this is clearly written. There was also commotion about whether your photos can be part of an advertisement. Kevin reiterates in his statement that Instagram does not have plans for this, and they will remove the language that states as such.

Ownership Rights: Instagram users will own their content and Instagram will not claim any ownership rights over your photos.

Privacy Settings:  In your account settings, if your photos are private, Instagram will only share your photos with the people you have selected and approved on your account.

The current Privacy Policy can be read here.

So many of us enjoy Instagram and have set up library accounts to share all our photos. I will keep an eye on this development and update our blog with the new information.

Posted in News, technology, Trending | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

What’s Trending in Technology? Instagram

by Jessica Posted on April 20, 2012

Instagram is a photo-sharing application that allows users to take and upload photos, apply a filters, and share it with the world! The program provides a unique feature to individualize each photo you take. With over 15 different filters to choose from, you can have your photo look like a vintage 1977 clip or  a black and white masterpiece. The availability to explore and share photos has made this app one of the fastest growing social apps out there.

Launching back in October of 201o, Instagram recently came into the popularity stream when Facebook purchased the company, and it’s employees for $1 billion dollars. It was also named the 2011 top iPhone app of the year by Apple.

 

Getting Started: You can download the free app on both Apple and Android devices.

Photos: You have the option to either take pictures within the app or use photos that you have on your camera roll. The photos are all square, similar to old Polaroid images.

Manipulation: There are 18 different filters you can chose from to make your picture look retro, futuristic or anything in between.

Social Sharing: You can currently share your photos on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Tumblr, Posterous, and Foresquare. Under settings, you can add your user names for your social networks.

Followers: You can find, invite, and search for friends and users on Instagram. With the “Find” friends option, the app will search for your friends from your connected social networks. You can even search for friends right from the contact list on your device.

Once you have set up your account and followed some friends, you can browse through their photos, select favorites, and start sharing photos of all the neat things going on at your library!

Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram @tblc

Posted in Apps, News, technology, Trending | Tagged , , | Leave a comment