Instagram’s solution to reaching emerging markets? Keeping things Lite
Instagram keeps finding ways to draw users in.
Every day we’re constantly deciding which social media platforms to upload our personal content on from our smartphones. Should I post pics from Saturday night on Facebook so my family can see? Or should I just leave it to die after 24 hours on my Instagram story?
However, lots of people in developing countries don’t have that choice. Often equipped with older Android phones with low storage space or slower network connections, users in emerging markets have a limited choice on which apps can be used on their smartphones.
What’s Instagram’s solution to this? Last week, the app quietly launched Instagram Lite in the Google Play app store without a company announcement. The goal of this: Less space on your device, less data being used and better and faster user experience. Taking up only 573 kilobites of space — as opposed to 32 megabytes on the main app — Instagram Lite provides the same key features except it doesn’t allow messaging or sharing videos just yet.
Aside from launching a lite version of the app, Instagram has been rolling out new additions and features with IGTV and adding background music to your stories.
At at time where Instagram and Snapchat are competing for their user’s attention, Instagram is constantly finding ways to reach people in markets that Snapchat ignored.
“Snapchat neglected international markets to focus on U.S. teens, leaving the door open for Instagram and WhatsApp’s clones of Snapchat Stories to grab big user bases in countries like India and Brazil.” — Josh Constine of TechCrunch.
And it’s working. Just last week, Instagram announced that more than 400 million people use the “stories” feature each day, making it twice as popular as Snapchat’s 191 million daily users.
Instagram is rapidly becoming the main social platform to use. Deciding where to post my content won’t be an issue anymore. In due time, I believe I’ll most likely be posting and engaging with my friends and family solely on Instagram.
