Instagram’s pivot into complexity

This post makes some interesting points about the additional complexities the Instagram team will face as they integrate video uploading, editing, and consuming into their users' activity streams.

I think there are some interesting reasons why Instagram needed to do this that are worth noting. Instagram's high level of user engagement is in my experience predicated on the way it captures (1) beautiful experiences that are (2) relevant to me (3) without the clutter of posts that are of any other category. Facebook and Twitter are both fantastic and I use them all the time, but Instagram is the first and last app I use every day because it is a purely positive experience to consume.

I think there is a certain saturation point where there is a maximum number of social apps that a person can afford to be engaged with at any point. While the idea of Vine was appealing to me, I have resisted it because I just don't have room to add another app into my consumption patterns. Same thing goes for Path.

So the reason I think Instagram did the right thing in adding video, and in fact had to, is that an app like Vine is really an extension of the same concept that Instagram did with photos. If I want to have that kind of experience, I would prefer to do it all in one place, and so I think there was always going to be a gravitational pull for one app to win in both of those categories.

Vine is great, and I have no doubt they will continue to see success in the myriad of other ways people use it that are dissimilar from Instagram. But I think Instagram did the right and necessary thing in taking on this added complexity.