Instagram independent no-more

If you're not glued to Twitter today, you might not know that the biggest social networking company in the world just acquired one of the smallest.

 

That's right, Instagram – the little photo sharing/filter app and network that could – after just making the jump to Android has been acquired by none other than Facebook.

 

For a purported US$1 billion, Facebook will get to brand and integrate Instagram's user base, functionality and network.

 

Instagram, pre-purchase, is/was a San Francisco based company with a scant staff of 13. Since its app launched, the user base for Instagram grew to a whopping 30 million users and just gained another million after porting to Android.

 

Facebook has always been a little behind the times in terms of its photo functionality, so it isn't confusing why the purchase is important to them.

 

JD

 

Original article:  Clicking on a Fortune: Facebook to Acquire Photo-Sharing Start-Up Instagram for $1 Billion (AllThingsD)