Big news have just dropped via Techcrunch, that online social networking giant Facebook has just acquired Instagram for $1 Billion (£629million).
Instagram was launched in October 2010 - initially just for the iPhone before being offered as an Android app last week.
It has proven hugely popular. The firm says that it has more than 30 million users uploading more than 5 million new pictures every day.
Let’s see what Facebook does with Instagram going forward. It looks like the photo sharing service will remain independent.
Mark Zuckerberg said this via his Facebook page:
"We think the fact that Instagram is connected to other services beyond Facebook is an important part of the experience.
"We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, the ability to not share your Instagrams on Facebook if you want, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook."
He added: "This is an important milestone for Facebook because it's the first time we've ever acquired a product and company with so many users. We don't plan on doing many more of these, if any at all."
Mr Kedrosky said the speed of the deal was unusual.
"I'm told it also came together very quickly, like a lightning strike.
"After launching on Android last week and adding one million users a day, it became obvious that this wasn't just a photo sharing app - it was a competitive social network, and the concern may have been that there would be rival bids."
"That's the only reason to think Facebook would have done this in the quiet period ahead of its flotation."
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