| Instagram (generally abbreviated as IG or Insta) is an American photo and video sharing social networking platform owned by Facebook, founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and officially launched on iOS in October 2010. The Android version was delivered in April 2012, followed by a feature-limited desktop interface in November 2012, a Fire OS application in June 2014, and an application for Windows 10 in October 2016. The application allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and coordinated by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can be shared freely or with pre-approved followers. Users can browse other users' content by tags and locations and view trending content. Users can like photographs and follow other users to add their content to a feed, a function that seems to be discontinued as of September 2020.
After its launch in 2010, Instagram quickly gained popularity, with 1,000,000 registered users in two months, 10 million in a year, and 1 billion as of June 2018. In April 2012, Facebook acquired the service for around US$1 billion in real money and stock. As of October 2015, more than 40 billion photographs had been uploaded. In spite of the fact that applauded for its impact, Instagram has been the subject of criticism, most prominently for policy and interface changes, allegations of censorship, and illegal or improper content uploaded by users.
Instagram was originally recognized by only allowing content to be framed in a square (1:1) aspect ratio with 640 pixels to match the display width of the iPhone at that time. In 2015, these restrictions were eased with an increment to 1080 pixels. The service likewise added messaging features, the ability to include multiple pictures or videos for a single post, and a Stories feature-similar to its main opposition (Snapchat), which allows users to post photographs and videos on a sequential feed, with each post available by others for 24 hours each. As of January 2019, the Stories feature is used by 500 million users every day.
As of January 2021, the most followed person is a footballer Cristiano Ronaldo who has more than 253 million followers. As of January 14, 2019, the most-liked photograph on Instagram is an image of an egg, posted by the account @world_record_egg, created with the sole purpose of surpassing the past record of 18 million likes on a Kylie Jenner post. The image presently has more than 54 million likes. Instagram became the 4th most downloaded mobile application around 2010.
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