Time for another social-media-landscape-changing Internet marketing news for you and your Internet marketing service provider.
Social media giant Facebook has agreed to make its biggest acquisition so far—photo-sharing mobile app Instagram. The Palo Alto, California-based social networking site is paying roughly $1 billion in cash and Facebook shares.
According to the news report from Internet Retailer, this industry-shaking transaction is expected to close later this quarter. For the uninitiated, Instagram is a lot like a social network because users can share and view photos with friends and comment and “Like” their connections’ photos. The report adds that Facebook is planning to keep Instagram independent of Facebook.
How will this movement affect the way we do Internet marketing services?
It’s still too early to tell.
But according to Facebook head honcho Mark Zuckerberg, the acquisition of Instagram will help Facebook “offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people.” According to a digital advertising analyst, this move is likely aimed at making Facebook more appealing on mobile devices especially smartphones. The social network has rolled out mobile ads but it still has a lot of room for improvement. Another analyst described the move as both “offensive and defensive.” Offensive in that gives Facebook a headway into mobile marketing and defensive because it kept Instagram out of top competitors Twitter and Google.
Among the current Internet marketing services, mobile marketing offers a lot of potential so it is easy to understand why Facebook would want to strengthen its niche in that area. Instagram was earlier valued at $500 million but owing to its widespread brand recognition, the $1 billion purchase price is justifiable. Facebook added that it will “work with Instagram’s teams to foster the app’s growth.”
The report further noted that the Instagram acquisition might just be the beginning. If Facebook moves forward with its IPO in spring, then it will have more funds for more acquisitions. For e-commerce merchants and Internet marketing service providers, this news only serves to remind us that the Facebook domination of the online marketing landscape will prevail.
