One year ago today, at 12:30am, we launched Instagram to the world. To say we’re amazed by what has happened since would be an understatement. Nearly 50,000 people sign up each and every day to become part of the world’s most vibrant photo community – creating a catalog of imagery that allows us to explore the world in ways never thought possible.
Instagram has opened up a view to the world that has allowed for greater transparency, closer connections, and increased awareness of the world around us. We’ve seen people take pictures of proposals, marriages, new babies, world events, riots, and vigils. The dream we had before we launched was that one day we’d be able to pull out Instagram and flip through images of the world happening around us. We never knew that it would happen so fast – and for that we feel both humbled by the past and encouraged by the years to come.
One poignant lesson we’ve learned is that small teams can accomplish big things. It’s no secret that we’re hiring talented people, though we only have three engineers. I’m particularly proud of the sheer volume and intensity of work both Mike (@mikeyk) and Shayne (@shayne) have put into building Instagram; the sleepless nights tackling big problems of scale and imaging science are too many to count. I’m also amazed to watch the endless efforts of Josh (@josh) & Jess (@jayzombie) to improve and nurture the awesome community that we’re so lucky to have. And Oli’s (@oliryan) determination to grow our team day in and out is inspiring. We’re excited to see our team grow, and I couldn’t ask for a better group of people leading the charge.
That being said, we also realize that we stand on the shoulders of all the folks who have come before us. It’s particularly timely because of the passing of Steve Jobs, without whom Instagram would never have come into being. Every snapshot you take with Instagram is possible because of the hard work of timeless innovators at Apple, Amazon and all the engineers who have contributed to the open source projects that are the backbone of our daily efforts.
Looking forward, we see a great deal of potential ahead. We see 10 million users as simply the beginning of something very special – and we’re excited to have you all along for the ride. Thanks for all your support.
@kevin
CEO, Instagram
