Denuo - denuology.com

It was with a heavy heart that I joined team iPhone this summer. As a self-appointed Apple h8r, I spent the previous 3 years of my mobile phone life with Android devices. As with any relationship, there were good and bad times but at the end I realized that we needed to test the waters with others. I was not the least bit enthusiastic about this decision but it felt necessary at the time. Now that I’ve had a few months to adjust, I can say it was the right decision if not for one main factor…Instagram.

Most of us Denuologists find ourselves as early adopters of most apps. We convince each other to be friends in order to play around with social features (while blocking all Facebook notifications to ensure our non-nerd friends don’t catch on) so that we can intelligently speak to capabilities when asked by clients. However in the case of Instagram, I wasn’t able to nab that early adopter status given their lack of an Android version. The frequent tweets by friends with Instagram links led me to expect to show up to the filtered picture party late with many of my friends touting huge libraries and follower lists. Minutes after signing up I was surprised to see that this was not the case. I found roughly 25 non-nerd friends and 25 industry/nerd friends. Considering the app was released almost a year ago and is rumored right at ten million users, all my digitally connected, Apple loving friends should be using this right?

It then dawned on me that this situation resembles another fairly successful app’s trajectory and adoption within my circle of friends…Foursquare. There are a number of striking similarities:

Clunky UI – Both started with a rather awkward user interface. Neither does what you really want them to when/where you want them to. Though despite the frustrations, you find yourself still compelled to check-in/upload pictures because they are so darn…

Addictive – Each experience is improved and more valuable with more interaction. Before you realize it, you are compelled to instantly jump into the app at every ‘moment’ (Foursquare’s being when walking through any door and Instagram being when you anything that must be shared with a witty caption).

Multiple Uses – Where most apps focus on one distinct behavior and look to address it, each found a way to allow for multiple ways to engage. As an example, our Denuo LA office has daily conversations on how one person is using Instagram the right way and the other is not (for the record, my capturing of every Saturday night’s follies is the right way). Foursquare did the same thing where many of us approached it as a game to collect badges, points and mayorships, while others simply saw it as a way to connect with friends on the go.

Limited Web Functionality – They both have initially focused on pocket interactions and left the in depth web experience to third parties. Many would argue that this is leaving money (or impressions) on the table but as many predict we are moving to a browser-less future, you can’t argue with the decision.

Plethora of Competition – As first movers, they both have been confronted with many competitors (big and small). Just as Foursquare was able to weather this from the likes of Facebook, Instagram has seen Google give up on their own version (Photovine) in just the past month.

These comparisons may hint at continued success for the guys over at Instagram. Let’s hope so as I’d like to see more of my digital savvy friends in my feed. If they are lucky, it may only be a matter of time before I’m ignoring/blocking people on Instagram. I can’t wait.