Facebook’s purchase of photo sharing site Instagram has spurred a rash of “how to export your Instagram photos” and “delete your account” blog posts across the web.
Facebook’s motivation for the $1 billion dollar purchase of the Internet darling, Instagram, is definitely a big deal. Only two years old but boasting some 30 million users, Instagram is beloved by many—the V3 team included. And it’s really no surprise. Rich media and storytelling through images is big—and getting bigger. And Facebook has made no secret of its interest in being the go-to storytelling platform—for individuals and for brands. And part of the way to do that is to make some significant inroads in the mobile space—and that’s partly what this purchase allows Facebook to do.
As expected, many Instagram users are up in arms about this acquisition by Facebook and the “I’m deleting my account” comments and posts in the social media space run rampant. We tend to sit back and watch these things as they unfold and avoid making hasty judgments and sweeping pronouncements. It would sure be a shame to see Instagram go the path of so many other cool platforms acquired by big companies and then shuttered, so we hope that’s not in Instagram’s future.
And for now, we’ll sit back and watch. And since we share a vast majority of the photos we take on Instagram on Facebook anyway, to us, it doesn’t seem like such a huge deal. What about you? Are you a hater or does this really not matter all that much to you?
If you’re a hater (which is cool—we don’t judge), and want to know how to export your photos and close your account, here’s how to do it.
Before you pull the plug, make sure you export all of your Instagram photos. Try Instaport (pictured below), which allows you to export to a .zip file or, in the coming weeks, to sites like Flickr. A word of caution? Instaport is experiencing unusually high traffic right now, so you may need to check back to complete the export process.
Once your photos are exported, simply notify Instagram that you want to delete your account.
Are you going to take the plunge, delete your account and find another photo-sharing app to replace Instagram? Or are you, like us, going to sit back and watch what happens first?
Lead image via TechCrunch
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”