Denuo - denuology.com

Ah, Instagram. The perfect app? It checks all the boxes of success: explosive growth out of the gate with near universal praise plus a quick acquisition for a ridiculous sticker price. And, it’s still growing.

What makes Instagram, Instagram? Why was this the app that turned us all into photographers and not Hipstamatic or another of the countless filter apps that came onto the scene at the same time? Why did Instagram’s now cliche aesthetic (heavy filters + square photos) catch on?

The hype around native ads only gets louder. BuzzFeed secured another round of funding on the back of their native focus while everyone from to to Tumblr to Forbes is moving it to the center of their monetization strategy. There are those proclaiming it’s the future of digital advertising and others dismissing it as the latest fad that will disappear as quickly as it got here. So who’s right?