Around the Net
Why Facebook Needs Another Photo App
- SplatF, Friday, May 25, 2012 12:20 PM
Dubbed Camera, Facebook just released an iPhone app that lets users take photos, add filters to them, and share them on the social network. Naturally, Web watchers are asking why the company needs another photo app after expressing an interest in buying Instagram for about $1 billion. “To us geeks who follow everything that’s going on in the tech industry, it might initially seem a little odd that Facebook would have, want, or need two camera apps,” writes respected tech analyst Dan Frommer. “But it actually makes sense,” he writes on his SplatF blog.
“Facebook Camera is for creating photos, sharing them on Facebook, and seeing yourFacebook friends’ photos.” By contrast, “Instagram is for creating photos, sharing them on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Foursquare, via email, etc., and seeing your Instagramfriends’ photos.”
There is so degree of overlap, Frommer admits, but not much. As he explains: “The majority of my Facebook friends don’t use Instagram, and I’m not Facebook friends with the majority of the people I follow on Instagram. Heck, I don’t know many of the people I follow on Instagram. And like most normal people, I don’t accept Facebook friend requests from people I’m not actually friends with.”
