instagram

Friday Poll: Are you sticking with Instagram?

Instagram and its owner Facebook really stepped into it this week. A new terms of service update set to go into effect on January 16 would have given Instagram the right to sell users' photos or use them in ads.

As you might expect, the prospect of Instagram running rampant with photos didn't sit well with its 100 million users. The interest in escaping Instagram grew, with nearly 6,000 readers sharing over Facebook CNET's instructions for backing up and deleting their Instagram accounts.

It took a little while, but Instagram finally coughed out an apology and backtracked … Read more

Facebook's about-face over Instagram (week in review)

It didn't take Facebook long to backtrack over controversial policy changes it intended to make regarding its photo-sharing app Instagram.

A public backlash was ignited by Instagram stating that had it the perpetual right to sell users' photographs without payment or notification. Under the new policy, Facebook claimed the right to license all public Instagram photos to companies or any other organization, including for advertising purposes, which would effectively transform the Web site into the world's largest stock photo agency.

"Instagram is now the new iStockPhoto, except they won't have to pay you anything to use … Read more

Kim Kardashian: Instagram's No. 1 enemy?

As you tense your loins, waiting for the end of the world, those in charge at Instagram are squeezing other muscles. For rumors have emerged that the site's most popular user, Kim Kardashian, is considering shutting down her account and taking all of her pretty pictures with her.

Oh, yes.

Kardashian is, reportedly, appalled, sickened, nauseated, shocked and stunned to the core (I might be exaggerating some of these emotions) at Instagram's audaciously offensive policy changes.

Should you have been detained at an office party for the last few days, Instagram suddenly decided it could sell all your … Read more

Time to send an SOS over Instagram's TOS

Maybe Mark Zuckerberg is busy out hunting for his own food. The company's No. 2, Sheryl Sandberg, might be tied up putting the finishing touches on her soon-to-be-published memoir. And so we're left with poor -- not financially poor, obviously -- Kevin Systrom to explain one of the most bizarre weeks in Facebook's young history.

On Monday, Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, announced changes to its terms of service that opened the way for the company to use people's photos in advertisements without needing permission. That triggered the predictable storm of controversy, with privacy advocates … Read more

Instagram rolls back terms of service after ownership dustup

Instagram has backpedaled on changes to its terms of service that appeared to let the maker of the photo-sharing app sell users' images, with founder and CEO Kevin Systrom announcing today that the terms will revert to the version in place since the service launched in 2010.

Facebook-owned Instagram ignited a storm of protest with the announcement earlier this week that it was claiming perpetual rights to sell users' photographs without notifying or compensating the photographer. Under that new policy, Facebook claimed the right to license all public Instagram photos to companies or any other organization, including for advertising purposes, … Read more

Don't blame Instagram users -- blame Instagram

After two days of increasingly loud arguments, the flap over Instagram's new terms of service has started to quiet down. Amid widespread concern the Facebook-owned company was about to start selling user photos to advertisers, the company yesterday said it "has no intention" of doing so, and would change its terms of service to reflect that intention.

At this point we should probably turn our attention to more pressing worldly concerns, of which there are plenty. And yet the fracas has revealed something ugly in the way that many in the tech press blame average people for … Read more

How to prevent and respond to a user revolt

The last thing you need as an entrepreneur is for your company to be engulfed in a public controversy. Just ask Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Path, Airbnb, Geeklist, and the countless other companies, big and small, that have been the target of press backlash and user vitriol.

It doesn't matter how careful you are: the more successful you become, the more likely it is that you'll make a mistake that ignites the blogosphere. There are ways to minimize the fallout and, more importantly, ways to prevent a large-scale user revolt in the first place.

Let's take Instagram's recent Terms of Service controversy … Read more

Getting started with 23snaps, an Instagram for parents

If you are like me, then you use Instagram mostly to snap shots of your kids. And if you are like me, then you feel a bit uneasy after reading the news this week about Instagram's change to its privacy policy, despite its apology and reassurances a day later that it harbors no plans to sell your photos. If you are looking for an Instagram replacement, I would steer parents toward iPhone app 23snaps.

In actuality, 23snaps is more like a mini-Facebook than Instagram. It lets you create profiles for each of your kids and post status updates along … Read more

Migrate your Instagram pics to Flickr with ease

If the events surrounding Instagram over the last few days have made you want to close your account and start using a different service such as Flickr, we understand. But before you go and delete your Instagram account, wouldn't it be nice to have all of your photos imported to Flickr for you?

Check out @freethephotos to automagically migrate @instagram pics to @flickr bit.ly/VQ5wQs

-- Nan Palmero, MBA (@nanpalmero) December 19, 2012

As you can see from the tweet above, it's possible and the process is simple.

Freethephotos is a new Web site created during the … Read more