After taking Techworld viral on Facebook, a reader has requested to review Instagram.

So this week let’s take a closer look at the most talked about social media photo app.

Instagram is a photo sharing app. Quite creatively the name was made – Insta meaning instant and gram representing telegram of old Polaroid being sent over.

The app has recently evolved and introduced a 15 second video sharing component.

This has helped bring an element of surprise in the traditional ‘Photo App’

Quick Research

Through a research online it states, Instagram was founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and launched on October 2010.

However, in 2012 Mr Systrom and Mr Krieger sold Instagram to Facebook for 1 million.

Since its inception Instagram has grown widely amongst different age groups.

Whether it is teenagers posting their #unilife #schoolflow or Business executive posting #worktravels #workinglife #meeting.

To date the photo sharing app has a total of 300 million monthly active users as of July 21.

The app has more users than the hashtag creator Twitter, with Twitter having 288 million average users.

However, parent company, Facebook remains by far the most popular social media site.

Instagram can be downloaded from Google Play Store and Apple store at no cost!

However, the app does need a proper internet connection to power.

Happy downloading and Instagramming!!

Photo Taking

Once you have registered and signed in. You will then be taken to the home screen.

At the bottom of the app there is tab, at the centre of that tab there is a little camera icon.

That icon is the camera – photo taking component of the app.

With the recent update of Instagram, when you select that tab it takes you straight to the gallery tab of your phone.

The second tab is the camera, Instagram really capture the name – Insta. With this feature, you can be anywhere taking a picture and uploading it instantly.

Also for the selfie lovers, the feature caters for a front facing images as well.

Video

Also on the camera tab there is a video tab on the far right.

It works very similarly to the photo tab.

Once you have selected it you can tap on the red circle on the centre on the phone and start recording.

As instant as it can get! However, these videos can only be as long as 15-seconds.

Gallery

The first tab on the camera icon is gallery. On this tab, it will take you to your archive images.

You can then select images from your phone that you have previously taken and upload them.

We understand that Instagram is about instant moments and that is why there is camera component in the app.

However, you can also capture images and upload them from your phone camera. Plus it also works out for #throwbackthursdays #TBT.

Crop and Filter

Once you have decided which picture or video to upload – the app then goes to its crop section.

Here, the app will automatically crop your image into a square. However, you can decide which part of the image you would like cropped.

Now for the fun bits – Filter:

When it comes to filter is all about be creativity and trying to tell a story.

With the recent update, Instagram has introduced two new filters.

There are 27 filters available on the app.

Notification and Profile

The fourth tab is the notification tab – here you can view all like and comments your followers have done for your images.

You can also view what your followers have liked and commented on through the following tab.

Profile – it is the first tab on the bottom of the screen.

On the profile tab it contains all your posts and posts that you have been tagged on.

The beauty of Instagram is that is it very organised – all the posts are in a timeline order.

Also the tagged images have their own tab. The profile also contains a short bio of you and the amount of people you are following, number of people following you and the number of posts.

Share

You must always share you moments!

Instagram is amazing because currently it is the only social media app that allows you to share to other platforms.

Once you have chosen your filter, it then takes you to the share.

On Share, first you are able to decide whether you want to upload the picture on your profile or want to send it directly to someone.

After that, you can then include a caption to the image and tag your followers on the image.

The map also allows you to add a location of the image.

Lastly, before selecting the tick (upload) tab you are given the opportunity to simultaneously upload to other social media.

Instagram is sync with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare and Flickr.

Once you select to upload to these platforms – it will then open another tab where will have to sign in those apps.

Feed and Search

Back on the feed section, this is on the bottom first from left on the screen.

You can view all uploads from people you follow. Not like Facebook what your friends or followers like will not appear on your feed.

That’s on the notification tab – we will come to that later.

On the search tab, this is the second tab from the right. Here you can search for people you would like to follow.