Facebook Buys Instagram for $1 Billion
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg made an announcement Monday in a Facebook post that the social network bought the photo-sharing application and site Instagram.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook will be paying $1 billion for the company in stock and cash.
Zuckerberg pledged in his post that he is "committed to building and growing Instagram independently." The Instagram app has already generated millions of "likes" around the world, becoming a prominent feature on Facebook.
"We think the fact that Instagram is connected to other services beyond Facebook is an important part of the experience," Zuckerberg added.
He wants to secure Instagram's connection with other social media networks such as Twitter and Tumblr, while promoting the app's brand through Facebook's strong infrastructure and networking system.
The social media team-up is surprising but welcomed by users of both networks.
"I'm surprised Twitter didn't buy it. I feel like Twitter and Instagram bounce off each other," user Bree Jones said.
"I guess it's another way for the the man, Mark, to control our photo-sharing lives, but I'm looking forward to face-tagraming," Jones said.
However, the big buy is not something Facebook users should get used to. Zuckerberg added that this billion-dollar purchase is not something the company plans on doing often, if ever again.
Because part of Facebook's purpose is to provide the easiest photo-sharing experience, Zuckerberg believes the buy is worth bringing the two companies together.
Instagram originated as an app for the iPhone and became available to Android users as well last week. There are an estimated 30 million users instagram-ing.
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