Instagram launches profile pages and exposes users to the world wide web
Instagram is great. There are a lot of things I love about the budding social network/pseudo photo hosting service and one of them is simply the archiving and sharing of your real world life through pictures — not meaningless stuff you’ve come across on the internet. Sure all that can be fun, but internet diarrhea is better left to Facebook and Google+.
One of the strangest (and best) parts about Instagram is that it was never web based, meaning there was no real way to access the site via your computer. Sure you could view people’s pictures, heart them, comment, and follow — but that was really the extent of it. Honestly, it blew my mind when I first discovered it but it quickly grew on me. There was certain level of secrecy in Instagram. Like a club that required you to have a smartphone to gain admittance. Well, now all of that is about to change.
Today, Instagram has launched their all new profile pages. These are users profiles that can be viewed via the web and quite honestly, I have mixed feelings about it. What was once reserved for “members only,” pictures of my life are now strewn across the net for everyone and anyone to view and gawk at. While it’s hard to put into words exactly what I’m feeling, the closest thing I can compare it to is someone ripping off my towel off and there I am… exposed. For the world to see. (I swear, I just got out of the pool).
In its current state, profile pages are severely limited by what they give a user access to. For instance, there’s currently no way to view your followers, or who your following — making the viewing of your friends profile pages a chore (you’re going to have to enter their user name in the URL every time. Sure there are other web-based services like web.stagram, but it would have been nice to not rely on a 3rd party.
I invite you guys if you haven’t already, to join up and friend me. Despite what the naysayers will… nay say, Instagram is a lot of fun and quickly becoming my favorite place to share my life (not what’s going on on the internet) and learn more about fellow Android peeps. I just pray Instagram will never be fully accessible from the desktop, allowing users to upload pics from their computers. It’s the one thing that’s kept the service “pure.” Oh, and limiting the amount of hashtags from #Instawhores. Before I go, here’s a quick video from one of my favorite videographers explaining what makes Instagram so great and how you can help keep it from sucking.