How Instagram Changed the Way We Shop
It has also transformed the way we brag about what we bought.
From L to R, starting at the upper left corner: @cottoncandydecorandgifts, @hollyhpan, @my.burleigh.reno, @bluebox.obsessed, @moxyhotels, @coffeetized, @beatbytwiggy, @thepinkbeachstore, @kathvphotography, @yogakioodergi, @valeiglesiasg, @alyssagagarin via Instagram
On Oct. 6, 2010 — the first year of the decade now drawing to a close — the following headline appeared above a modest 445-word article on a tech-industry website: “Instagram Launches With the Hope of Igniting Communication Through Images.”
It’s an almost comically quaint description of exactly what the company has done over the past nine years. On its way to amassing more than a billion users, Instagram has become many things: a joyful storehouse of family photos, a sledgehammer for celebrity tabloid culture, a shadowy abyss of teen bullying. Oh, and it has also become the most powerful force in shaping commerce this side of Amazon.com Inc.