Although this app/service was launched in October 2010, and has snowballed in popularity ever since, not everybody knows an Instagram from a telegram.
If you've been sitting on the Instagram sidelines, here's your chance to find out what all the fuss is about and get started using Facebook's new baby.
What is Instagram?
Instagram is an app first of all, but also a social network. The Instagram app, available for Android and iOS, can apply a variety of filters and effects to your photos. It also connects you to the Instagram network so you can share your modded snapshots and see those of other users. All this happens on your phone, though shared photos routinely land on Facebook, Twitter, and so on.
What do Filters Mean?
A filter makes changes to your photo -- sometimes subtle, sometimes significant. Instagram has 18 filters, most with nondescript names like Earlybird, Hudson, and Sutro. With one tap, a snapshot can be made to look like it was shot in the 60s or came out of a scrapbook or was taken with a Polaroid camera.
The app offers two other noteworthy capabilities.
1. It can frame photos with rounded corners, a white or black border, ragged edges or some combination of the three (depending on the selected filter).
2. It can add a straight or circular motion-blur effect, leaving any given area in focus while blurring the background. That's Instagram's coolest feature.
Why is Instagram Popular?
Sometimes I wonder. It was far from the first app to offer photo filters, and its interface is anything but intuitive. But once you figure out how everything works, Instagram is pretty fun. And it shares effortlessly with the likes of Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and Tumblr. Yet, it's free.
How do I Get Started?
First of all, download and install the Instagram app on your smartphone or tablet. The first time you run it, you will need to sign up for an account, which is quick and painless. From there you will want to familiarize yourself with the five buttons that span the bottom of the screen: Home, Popular, Camera, News, and Profile.
The "Home" shows you the latest photos from friends and other users you follow. The "Popular" serves up a batch of the latest and most-liked pictures -- a good way to get a feel for the app's capabilities. The "Camera" opens your device camera, allowing you to snap newly filtered/framed shots on the spot. But you can also tap the library button (represented in the iOS version by two overlapping squares) to choose existing photos you want to tweak.
The "News" reveals news about who you are following and who is following you. Finally, the "Profile" allows you find friends, review your filtered photos, edit your profile, and configure sharing with the six currently supported social networks: Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Posterous, Twitter, and Tumblr.
Download Instgram for iPhone: Here
Download Instagram for Android: Here
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