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"For Facebook, buying Instagram looks like one of the smartest acquisitions the company has ever made. But when the news first broke that Facebook had acquired Instagram, my immediate instinct was dread. \nI tweeted that my favorite mobile app was now destined to be ruined. Given the stunned reaction from users on social media in general, and the fact that Instagram download-and-delete services are being overwhelmed, I wasn't the only one. \nTo be clear, I could not be happier for the Instagram team. They earned their success. The service is worth every penny. I'm genuinely glad that the team will get to reap the benefits of its hard work.\nAnd buying Instagram was a great business decision from Facebook's perspective. As I remarked on Twitter, why try to build a competing photo app when you can just buy the best and most viral?\nStill, as a user, I can't help but wonder: how long before Instagram becomes just another Facebook app? How much time until everything that made the service so special disappears into the ether?\nAs an early adopter, I've watched far too many of my favorite apps and services suffer. They have shut down or evolved into something completely different after being acquired by a bigger company. Yahoo and AOL are famous for buying a startup or service, only to ruin the company by dismantling it or letting it languish.\n\nSEE ALSO: Facegram FTW! How Facebook Could Actually Improve Instagram\nOf course, as Chris Taylor argues here, it's always possible that Facebook might not screw things up. After all, look at YouTube, a service that has absolutely flourished under the corporate control of Google. The YouTube team, in many regards, still feels slightly different than other parts of Google.\nMaybe Instagram can be Facebook's YouTube. Unlike other Facebook acquisitions, such as FriendFeed, Divvyshot, Hot Potato, Drop.io, and Beluga, Instagram has a user base of more than 30 million people \u2014 which is much harder to ignore.\nKeeping Instagram Awesome\nHere are some steps Facebook can take to keep from ruining Instagram.\n\nKeep The Team Together. Time and again, I see acquisitions flounder or fail under the new owner because the team was immediately split up. At Google, it's quite common for the CEO or project manager of a newly acquired product to get moved into a different role in a different part of the company or with a different service. \nOften that means that the people that have the best understanding for the service as it exists and how it works are no longer around to guide it forward. More often than not, the service either dies, gets merged into something else, or continues to exist but is all but abandoned.\n\n\nDon't Require Facebook Logins. I have always admired Amazon's ability to acquire a company \u2014 sometimes even a competitor \u2014 and continue to let that competitor operate without integrating into the main Amazon ecosystem. \nAmazon has owned IMDb since 1999, but the user account I created in 1997 still works. Likewise, I can buy shoes from Zappos or audio books from Audible without linking to my Amazon account.\nFor at least the time being, Facebook needs to make its own system optional for Instagram users. Chances are, most users will choose to integrate with Facebook \u2014 but please, don't force it.\n\n\nKeep it Mobile Only. Part of the appeal of Instagram is that the whole app and experience are designed for the mobile web. Yes, there are a slew of excellent third-party apps and tools. But to share a photo with the world, you need to use a mobile app.\nTo some, this might seem like a negative. But I firmly believe it is one of the things that makes Instagram special. The net effect is that I'm more aware of the photos that I share. It isn't like Flickr or Facebook, where I can just upload an album en masse. \nWith Instagram, I have to choose the photo, write a caption and select where to share. For that reason, the photos I share with Instagram tend to be the photos I actually care about.\n\n\nStay Focused. Too often, acquired startups use their newfound wealth and resources to veer into other areas. Part of the reason so many people use and love Instagram is that it is focused on one thing: Sharing photos with your friends on your mobile device. That's it.\nDon't go into video. Don't go into Panoramas. Don't go into desktop uploads. Stay focused on pictures.\n\nNow that I've had my InstaEmo moment, I'm cautiously optimistic about this marriage \u2014 though I'm still fearful that my favorite social and photo network will become just one more cog in Facebook's ever-growing wheel.\nProve me wrong, Facebook. Please, prove me wrong."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/04/09/facebook-ruin-instagram-opinion/>