Friday, December 21, 2012

News Card VII


Instagram Does an About-Face 

December 20, 2012, 8:30 pm

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/instagram-does-about-face-reverts-to-previous-policy/?ref=technology



Photo-sharing service Instagram angered customers earlier this week by announcing its users’ data would be used by Facebook’s advertisers. Later on, however, Instagram changed this decision due to customers’ dissatisfaction.

Instagram will instead change its advertising policy after its users were concerned their information and photographs would be shared with Facebook and its advertisers. Instagram users had threatened to use other services, e.g. Flickr or the application Pheed, but the company promised to revise its plans. However, even these changes have not stopped users leaving Instagram.

The problem is that Facebook bought Instagram earlier this year for $735 million and is under pressure for it to make more money. Instagram is currently a free service. Banner advertising is not enough, and users’ data are far more valuable.

Despite competition, Instagram has 100 million members, but this success could change in light of recent events. Facebook and Instagram have so far declined to say if they had seen any significant number of account deletions.

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