So Instagram was finally made available for Android a couple of weeks ago, prompting a wave of anti-Droid sentiment across the cybersphere:  http://www.cultofmac.com/158610/check-out-all-these-hideous-iphone-elitists-making-fun-of-android-instagrammers/

As mean-spirited and ridiculous as all of those comments were, I’m kind of thinking there was something to the idea that Instagram isn’t for everyone.

BD (before ‘droid), I had about a dozen friends regularly using Instagram to post photos to Facebook.  I enjoyed them, admired them, found them to be excellent photos.  I suspect those friends would have good photos without Instagram, just because of the kind of people I know them to be (artistic, creative, deliberate).

PD (post ‘droid), I have about 30 friends using Instagram to post photos to Facebook.  I have no idea whether these new users have Android phones or not–all the attention Instagram got with the new app version has probably made some people aware of it that weren’t before.  Regardless, there are a lot of Instagram photos coming through my newsfeed now and the vast majority of them are terrible.  The subject matter isn’t good, the photos aren’t framed well, the lighting is bad, the focus is unpurposely soft…in other words, they look just like all the pictures that were posted before, but now they’re filtered.  Seeing a dozen bad photos without Instagram was bad enough; with filters, they are worse.

I downloaded the app to my phone in order to get familiar with it and to see if there was something compelling enough about it that I should use it.  Right away I felt that an app like Instagram should serve a purpose.  I’ve posted two photos using #nyc and specifically chosen because they show something that is an important or unique part of my NYC experience:

They aren’t great and they didn’t really do much to help me decide whether I want to continue using Instagram, but they did kinda sorta help me understand the appeal of such an app–if you’ve never had your hands on a decent piece of photo editing software.

Bottom line:  On some level, while not a Mac person, I do admit to a certain amount of snobbery when it comes to photographs and yes, I’m hoping Instagram has some flash-in-the-pan -ness.

Still not sure the company was worth a billion…