It is Instagram’s birthday today, and for a 10-year-old, it has already achieved a lot in life. Launched on October 6, 2010, within 67 days the app reached 1 million active users (which took Facebook 301 days and Twitter 1822 days). In spring 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion dollars. Since then, Instagram has come out with many popular features including Boomerang, carousel images, IGTV, Instagram Shopping, and of course, Instagram Stories.
Instagram is a valuable marketing channel, but going back to its essence, it’s a great app for sharing photos and keeping up to date with the lives of those you care about. To celebrate Instagram’s 10-year milestone, a few of us have decided to share our first and latest Instagram images and discuss how things have and haven’t changed in what we use our personal accounts for.
Get ready to get more personal with the Major Tom team.
“First Instagram photo…EVER. Waited a long time for this! #Selfie #nofilter” was Carolina’s first Instagram post – and a very fitting caption for this blog post. Her feed started with her documenting everyday events as she experimented with filters – preferring the high-contrast style originally. When she began blogging more, her account took on more of a lifestyle and travel theme. For this, she adopted light, bright, and high-quality photos.
“I still do share lifestyle and travel photography, but the posts are more colourful because I’m posting more of what I want by introducing more every day life events again.”
Carolina also states that she uses the app for inspiration and to perfectly showcase this, her latest post celebrates her mother on her birthday. (Happy belated birthday Mrs. Horna!)
The wonderful Kate hails from Poland and so she uses the platform to share her life adventures in both Canada and Poland with her followers. From hikes to city exploration, her account has kept a very consistent theme over the years. She also uses her account to help promote the women-lead community events she’s involved in.
Similar to most of you, Tina uses her account to post key moments and travel photos. From seeing her favorite reptile up close in Mexico to her recent trip to the wineries on Salt Spring Island, BC, she loves scrolling back on her feed to reminisce about these times. Never limiting herself to one specific filter, Tina prefers to play around with the saturation and having pops of color — brightly colored scenic photos are some of her favorites.
“Initially, I used Instagram to post photos of family/friends and events, but overtime I’ve archived the majority of those photos (having those on Facebook) and focused mainly on travel photos.”
Colleen has a fun sense of humor which she shows in her first-ever post. A picture so good it didn’t need a caption in her eyes, just a few to-the-point hashtags to help spread the laughter. Although her feed is filled with plenty of happy everyday moments, she says the primary purpose of her account is to bombard her boyfriend with pictures of the baby goats she wants him to adopt for them. Her latest post is a picture of a Polaroid which is perfectly fitting for Instagram.
“I do not have a theme — I usually describe my page as a travesty, which is funny since I often help others make their feeds compelling.”
Raelene enjoys sharing family photos with friends and for that reason keeps her account private. From start to finish, her feed is filled with heartwarming images of her wonderful family and their trusty dog, Winston, over the last decade. As such, her first photo is that of Winston and the latest is a throwback to her wedding day, as she celebrates her 14th wedding anniversary. Judging by their crowns it was a Whopper of a wedding.
Remember the 365 project? She, like many of us, also did not complete it.
Victoria kicked off her Instagram with a Christmas card that is ironically very fitting for 2020. However, she quickly moved onto the popular travel theme. Her feed dives into the many animal encounters, shark cage diving trips, and other extreme adventures in South Africa before moving to her sightseeing adventures in and around Vancouver.
She did enjoy flittering around between the Amaro and Lo-Fi filters but now prefers going for a nice bright, crisp look through manual editing. She doesn’t reflect this in her latest post, however, which is a throwback to the old-norm of watching a hockey game with a tasty footlong hotdog.
As we celebrate Instagram’s 10th birthday, take a look back through your own photos, and enjoy the evolution of your feed and the memories it’s made up of.
Be both a dreamer and a doer.
