Instagram Gains Suggested Users, 7 New Languages, And Yes, 2 New Filters

Mg Siegler

MG Siegler is a general partner at Google Ventures and a columnist for TechCrunch, where he has been writing since 2009. Previously, MG was a general partner at CrunchFund. And before TechCrunch, MG covered various technology beats for VentureBeat. Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. He’s previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked... → Learn More

Saturday, December 18th, 2010

An update to Instagram, the popular photo-sharing app for the iPhone, has just hit the App Store. And while the version numbering (1.0.6) may not make it seem like a big update, there are a few notable things about the latest version.

First of all, in an effort to drive more social connections for new users, they’ve added a suggested users list. Second, they’ve added seven new languages (Japanese, German, Russian, French, Chinese, Italian, and Spanish). Third, they’ve fixed a number of bugs and increased performance. And finally, for the first time, they’ve also added two new filters into the mix.

The suggested users feature may draw a bit of controversy given what it did for certain users on Twitter (like our TechCrunch account). But the reality is that it’s an obvious and easy way to get new users engaged. Co-founder Kevin Systrom tells us that the feature is partially algorithmic, based on your location and language. But going forward they hope to make it much more algorithmic and less about them selecting people.

The two new filters are called “Sutro” and “Toaster”. I’m sure you’ll be seeing them all over Twitter shortly. Humorously, the latter appears to be named after Kevin Rose’s new little adorable puppy.

You can find Instagram in the App Store here.

Company: Instagram
Website: instagram.com
Launch Date: March 2010
Funding: $57.5M

Instagram is a free photo sharing application that allows users to take photos, apply a filter, and share it on the service or a variety of other social networking services, including Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr, Flickr, and Posterous. The application is compatible with any iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch running iOS 3.1.2 or above or any Android device running Android 2.2 or above. In an homage to both the Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid cameras, Instagram confines photos into a square...

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