San Francisco — In a surprising move, the popular photo sharing application Instagram is leaving the confines of the smartphone, and is finally launching Web-based profiles, the company announced on Monday.
The all mobile photo-sharing service to stake a spot on the web that will look familiar to Facebook users, but you still would not be able to upload photos through your desktop. But, in any event, Instagram users will soon be able to browse their friends’ Instagram photos on the Web, the company announced on its blog, and the layout looks a bit like the top of a Facebook page.
More so, the service will now authorize users to view and edit their profiles through their website at Instagram.com. Previously users of the social media service had only been able to use the service through the applications on their Andriod, and iOS based phones.
“You have asked for Instagram on the Web and we took heed,” the Facebook-owned photo-sharing service wrote in a blog post. “Over the next few days, we will be rolling out Instagram profiles on the Web!”
Although Instagram, which was early this year acquired by Facebook Inc., currently appears like a blend of Facebook Timeline and Pinterest, are available to all members. They feature a profile photo, bio, and all the pictures uploaded by the account holder. Users also have the ability to share their profile, follow others, and interact with content through likes and comments.
“To see your profile, or to explore a friend’s profile, simply navigate to instagram.com/[username],” says the Instagram Blog. “For instance, in order to view Nike’s profile, @nike, you would navigate to instagram.com/nike on the web. If you do not see your profile yet, be assured that you will see it in the next few days. We are rolling out profiles to everyone on Instagram over the course of this week.”
As avid Instagram users known, the only way to currently view someone’s profile is through the app. The new profiles feature a dynamic cover photo — a collage made up of your most recent photos — and a profile pic resting to the left of it. Users can follow other users, comment and like photos, and edit the profile from the Web.
(Credit: Instagram)
As a matter of fact, if your Instagram photos are set to public, anyone will be able to see your profile on the Web. In this case, you do not even need to be an Instagram user to view someones’ public profile online. If your photos are set to private, they will only be visible to logged-in Instagram users you have approved.
When asked about if this would be available Istagram stated: “Instagram is focused on the production of photos from mobile devices so users are not currently able to upload from the web. We’re excited about how Web Profiles will make it easier to browse and share content on the web for all our users.”
More importantly, this cool application was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, Instagram is a social network and photo-sharing app for smartphone users. The service allows you to apply filters to your pictures and share them with other members, as well as on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.
Facebook acquired Instagram in April of this year for $1 billion.