The two founders of Instagram have quit and are leaving the Facebook-owned company after reportedly clashing with Mark Zuckerberg over the future direction of the popular photo app.
There has been reported tension between Zuckerberg and Instagram creators Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger for some time, with the pair resigning and due to leave the company in a few weeks. Their statements claim they remain excited for the future of Instagram, but according to Bloomberg, the pair were frustrated with the increasing involvement of Zuckerberg in the company’s day-to-day running.
In a statement, Systrom said:
Mike and I are grateful for the last eight years at Instagram and six years with the Facebook team. We’ve grown from 13 people to over 1,000, with offices around the world, all while building products used and loved by a community of over one billion.
The pair claim they are “ready for [their] next chapter,” and alluded to the possibility of creating something new in saying that they aimed to “explore [their] curiosity and creativity again.”
Facebook purchased Instagram back in 2012 for $1 billion. Back then, the platform had 30 million users, in comparison to the 1 billion people who use the app monthly now. Whether Instagram will become more like Facebook now that its creators are no longer around remains to be seen.
Lead image credit Katka Pavlickova on Unsplash.
This + the Forbes interview with Brian Acton... (Much) sooner rather than later people will be done with FB and it's tentacles. Probably with SM too (at least as we know it).
As someone who's profession involves Social Media, I agree that Facebook could eventually see itself go the way of Myspace but Social Media is going to be here for a long long time. From what I can tell, the more complicated a platform, like Facebook, the more it turns people off. Instagram and twitter are relatively simple in comparison and are still going super strong because it's not as overwhelming. ...All just my opinion...
agreed
When Facebook bought Instagram, they ruined it, the same way they ruined Facebook over time. I've been on Facebook since 2007 and Instagram since 2010. Both were better platforms back then, because you saw your newsfeed in the order posts were made to it, not in the stupid way it's done now. You didn't get 'dinged' for not being "social" and liking/commenting on everyone else's posts. And you weren't constantly hounded to spend money promoting your posts (for business accounts), just so your followers would see them. I look for Instagram to become even worse, if that's possible.
I picture those two guys being the hold-outs from the old era of Instagram you describe, who've been slowly worn down by Zuck. I fear it only gets worse from here.
Worse for the user, better for the shareholders. The only thing they have going for them is the client base and they are going to milk it hard.
I for one can’t wait to see Instagram go down in flames.
its already going downhill fast...
I've been on Instagram for a mere 2 years and I am pretty much done. The amount of crap, ads, disorganized posts is incredibly annoying. Facebook is even worse. I mean the Messenger app is almost 500MB! Really? The most unstable, bug ridden and bloated app on my phone at the moment. Together with Facebook and Instagram these three apps take an almost full GIG of space. It's absurd.
This is pretty much the norm when businesses are taken over. The old guard eventually leaves and moves on.
What's Facebook?
Oh no! Where are the people going to post their countless snapshots and amazing shaking vertical videos? I’m sure gonna miss that until there’s gonna be yet another unique platform where photographers can find so many opportunities to share their work and find potential clients horseshit horseshit horseshit.