INSTAGRAM // Map it out yo!

The guys @instaearth have built a tool that maps out @Instagram pics on a map. Nice one boys!

Check out Insta Earth.

INSTAGRAM // Get up on it

@Instagram.

Some of you might use it. Some might have heard of it. Some might not know what I'm talkin about. And some might not have an iPhone, so you can't use it.

Either way, Instagram is one of the fastest growing social tools today. And if your an advertiser, that means you've gotta get up in it.

I know, another 'social thing'. The good news is that it's cool. And it posts to all your other 'social things'. And I know for some it might be old news, but I think it's finally gotten to a place where it is going to blow. 

So what is it?
Instagram says "It’s a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures. Snap a photo with your iPhone, choose a filter to transform the look and feel, send to Facebook, Twitter or Flickr – it’s all as easy as pie. It’s photo sharing, reinvented."

This is true. But is also does Geo-tagging and hash tagging. In fact, I would describe it more as a "Photo-based Twitter". You take a pic, tag it and anyone can comment and like it. This is part of a growing trend to knock down the wall gardens of networks like Facebook and let everyone in like Twitter. And along with Facebook, Twitter and Flickr, it also posts to Posterous, Tumblr, Foursquare and the Instagram feed for your friends to see.

But I think it's more than that. It's about sparking individual creativity. Self-expression, supported by the masses. #eyecontact, #fromwhereistand. Some simple ideas, that somehow bring us all a little closer. There's something about photography of everyday things that brings us (strangers) together in a more human way than text and 'likes'.

More importantly it has an API that anyone can use to search and grab everyones photos to do things with. One great example is Printstagram (http://printstagr.am/), a great tool that takes your pics and prints them out into a big beautiful poster for €19. Nice.

That said, tagging I think is the coolest bit about Instagram. Because you can really get lost in it. But equally you can really start to do something creative. 

One of the most recent examples is what the Deftones are doing. They hosted an Instagram photo contest which challenged fans to help document their tour. To participate, fans were asked to tag their photos from the concert they attended with #deftones and #thecitytheyattended (e.g. #Orlando). The contest was a huge success: there are now almost 1,300 photos on Instagram tagged #deftones and the band's account, @deftonesband, has gained close to 20,000 followers in 3 months.

So, download it if you have an iPhone. If you don't, still think about it and how we can use it as a channel. As we're trying to compete with the other billion Facebook ideas out there, this is a fresh take that we could do some nice early adopter stuff with. But act quick, this time next year it will be as original as a Facebook app.

Add me as a friend (chadwarner) if you'd like and use the Geo-Tagging feature to check-in for the pics at work. 

Below are some examples of how it's being used. Check them ALL out. Tip of the iceberg.

Have fun snappin'n'taggin yo!

CW

A couple examples of things being done with Instagram's API:

Brands: Here are some earlier adopter brands doing some nice stuff - http://t.co/89svwAq

News: Major news networks are using to post images of real-time stories - http://instagr.am/blog/86/news-on-instagram

Businesses: http://instagr.am/blog/97/is-your-business-on-instagram

Events: Coachella had a flood of cool Instagram stuff going on - http://bit.ly/ln1EFt

Moby: #tag 'destroyed' and show up on his tour map with his feed - http://destroyed.moby.com/#

TopShop: A contest to drive people in-store - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=178209608899286 

Instagrid: Browse peoples photos, users must allow it (here's mine) - http://instagrid.me/chadwarner/

Instawar: This is a pairing game that randomly pairs to images together - http://instawar.org/

Instagreat: Nice tool to search Instagram in a browser - http://instagre.at/
Sadly it only does it by #tag and not also @accountname

  CHIandPartners - http://instagre.at/#/search/chiandpartners/

  Cats - http://instagre.at/#/search/cats/

  Shoes - http://instagre.at/#/search/shoes

Real-Time: Just showing a real-time feed of pics - http://demo.instagram.com/

Inkstagram: This is just a nice browser based version it - http://inkstagram.com

Instashade: Take Instagram shoot and puts them in a colour wheel - http://instasha.de/

Printstagram: Print your photos - http://printstagr.am

Keepsy: Printing books from Instagram - http://www.keepsy.com/

Instadesk: Mac app for your desktop to view and search - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/instadesk/id428652446?mt=12&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

RSS: If you want to follow certain #tags in your reader, http://instagr.am/tags/[hashtag name]/feed/recent.rss (replace [ ] with the tag sans#)

P.S. If you are Instagram and you're reading this. Please consider these things:

• Much Higher Resolution images
• Easier access to search
• Custom keyboard so the # button is not 2 clicks deep
• Post Directly to my Facebook photo albums instead of a post to your page that goes no where
• Facebook tagging
• Linking @ and # tags used in your profile descriptions
• Popular tags and featured tags in  the app (#eyecontact, #fromwhereistand, otherwise it's hard to find and get inviolved in)
• A contest tab possibly
• Map overlay with real-time pics
• A web-based version for viewing (I know there are others, but you should do it best)

That's it at the moment, Love you and your tool. Get some more funding and developers to give everyone more features, faster! We love it!

CW