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Instagram’s evolution into Snapchat deepens with facial filters and new creative features

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It’s not really a secret that Facebook wants Snapchat. They offered to buy them, and Snapchat refused. So, now Facebook seem to be working as hard as they can to introduce Snapchat-like features into all of their platforms. It started with Instagram adding basic stories, which then spread to Facebook and WhatsApp. Every new version seems to add a little something extra that Snapchat users will be familiar with.

Now, no surprise, facial filters have finally come to Instagram. It was inevitable, really. But it took a while. It’s understandable why some features are taking a while to show up, though. Not all Instagram users have tried Snapchat (I hadn’t, until recently). Adding everything all at once can be a little overwhelming to existing users. So introducing it a bit at a time eases that transition to where Instagram wants to be.

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Is this the end of Snapchat? First quarterly report shows $2.4 billion loss

On Wednesday, May 10, 2017, Snapchat issued their first quarterly report and the numbers are quite a negative surprise. According to the Wall Street Journal, they have reported the net loss of $2.2 billion, and compared to $104.6 million last year, it’s an enormous difference. The platform finds it hard to challenge other social networks in terms of users and ad revenue, and so their loss has severely exceeded their earnings.

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Snapchat Spectacles are finally available for online purchase

Snapchat Spectacles have finally stopped being a rare treasure. If you’ve wanted to try them out, you can now get them on the online store of Snap Inc. These sunglasses with a built-in camera allow you to shoot videos and record what you see from your point of view.

These sunglasses were first announced in fall 2016, but it was fairly difficult to get them. You could only buy them at a special store in New York, or at some of the Snapbots: vending machines which appeared on various locations across the USA. Now it’s far less complicated, and you can earn them online for the price of $129.99.

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Is Instagram repeating its own mistakes and moving towards its end?

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Have you ever heard of an app called Burbn? It has nothing to do with real bourbon, but it used to be the name of one of the most popular apps today: Instagram. They started off as an app for location check-in and developed in a direction that brought them worldwide popularity and millions of users. But are they still moving in right direction? This video from DigitalRev gives a short overview and predictions about the future of Instagram. What do you think? Is Instagram still moving in right direction?

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The rise of the disappearing photo

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At the beginning of this week Instagram announced that it was introducing a Snapchat-like option of disappearing photos and videos to its service. As we’re now at the end of the week and it’s been covered everywhere–not to mention people would have been using it, or at least had discovered it over the past five days–this is hardly news any longer. So why do I feel compelled to write about it? It is the result of a question posed in an article covering the announcement: ‘Does yet another large social media outlet turning to instant photo-messaging tell us that the media we share is[sic] becoming more disposable than ever?’

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Instagram goes SnapChatty adding “Stories” that disappear after 24 hours

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No longer do you have to worry over whether you’re spamming you stream with too many images. Introduced today, Instagram Stories lets you share moments of your day, grouped together as a slideshow.

Interestingly, at a time when SnapChat is adding features to make content a little more permanent, Instagram Stories seems to be going the other way. Photos and videos get removed after 24 hours and don’t appear on your profile grid or in your feed. Instead, you’ll see stories from people you follow across a bar at the top of your feed.

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Snapchat’s “lenses” contain a whole lot of cool technology

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Snapchat might be quite a silly and frivolous app to some people, while others live on it.  Regardless of your thoughts on its practical application, it employs some pretty serious technology in order to be able to do what it does with its “lenses”, or filters as most people call them.

From the same facial recognition principles found in your DSLR to advanced feature & motion tracking in 3D space, a lot of the technology, while advanced, isn’t really all that new.  What is new is the ability for all these tasks to be performed together simultaneously in real time.

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19 year old girl banned from social media for posting nude photos of another woman

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19 year old Courtney Marie Mulkentine from Gympie, Queensland, posted photos of her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend to Facebook and removed them after Mulkentine received a phone call from the victim, but by then it was too late.

After pleading guilty to “using an electronic carriage service to harass or offend”, the Australian teenager has been banned from using social media for six months, after the act of “revenge porn”, an increasingly common and worrying practice.

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Teenage Instagram Star Reveals The Truth Behind Her “Perfect” Photos

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You know how people photograph their happy moments and rush to post the photos on Facebook and other social media trying to make the world think their life is all peachy? Well here’s one person who made a living doing it; and why she stopped.

Essena O’Neill is a 19-year-old from Australia who used to spend a considerable amount of her time showing off her perfect life on various social media platforms.

With over one million fans, followers and subscribers Essena reached a point where she was able to support herself through sponsorships and was receiving modeling offers from some of the largest agencies out there.

Even though she says she had everything she ever wanted, yesterday she posted a video (without even putting on makeup) explaining why she has decided to quit all social media.

While some accounts will be shut down completely, she decided to leave her Instagram account active but edited the captions to reflect the truth behind those “perfect” moments.

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