Today when I was reading about Vlix, a mobile video sharing app that adds Instagram-like filters, which is joining a long line of start-ups and apps that are trying to do precisely the same thing, I was reminded of what Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland said — “You can’t appoint a leader; it just happens.” It is particularly true when it comes to startups and consumer social services.
Take Instagram, the photo app/social network as an example. They got a few things right and over 10 million people turned them into the leader in a market where there were others apps and services with a “social network” and “filters.” It just caught onto something that is ephemeral and not listed on any slide deck — happiness & emotions. When I see Instagram today, I don’t see a social network — I see a hub of attention where we share and get lost in carefully edited, curated and somewhat beautified lives with others. Just like television or music videos — it is where we choose to spend our attention.
And one of the reasons why many of these services such as Vlix will fail to succeed is that they don’t quite know what is that they are trying to offer. Oh that, and a growing list of competitors. Vlix’s competitors include Vibop, BlipSnips, Socialcam, Tout, Viddy, Vlixand Vloggo. Socialcam seems to be a leader in this market, but just.
PS: I will be chatting with Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom at our upcoming Mobilize 2011 conference on Sept 26 and 27th in San Francisco’s Mission Bay Center. Join us.
Lots of Instagram wannabe users out there because there’s still no android app in sight and browser is no way to access its network either. Time to embrace the non-iOS market.
I love Instagram, but just wish they had an Android app.
There is another one recently launched on Android, StreamZoo. Tried it…not hooked onto it.
Why do they need to make an Android app? I see tons of Google apps that are Android only.
the thing about instagram is it has soul. too many services are trying to copy and paste there way into relevancy. the real ones don’t need to fake it.
I’ve listened to Kevin. He is a smart guy. He’s patient and knows that Instagram is not just a photo sharing app, but it is something else. The filters turn an ugly cell phone picture into a thing of beauty. I not only love posting photos, I love looking at what my friends have posted. When I post a photo, I tag it and then look at other photos with similar tags. The app is a great design. I am interested in trying Vlix.
Yeh i think people will stick with Instagram after all this time because its developed such a strong fan base and its got all these extra third party apps to fill in any gaps that its not providing like Statigram( http://statigr.am/) where you can get a whole host of stats in relation to your uploads onto Instagram. Its awesome!
So what you are saying is that Instagram is just an attention hub of our lives in beautified form… Like reality TV it is just a pass time… Do you think then that it does not have a purpose at all? And why do you think we like spending all that time looking at beautiful pictures…? Oh and is there any way to get my hands on that chat you had with the CEO of Instagram? Thanks a lot!!