Brands HAD It Easy: Instagram and Its Users

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By: Janet Kalandranis

It used to be much simpler back in the good ol' days. Brands made a decision, announced it (or sometimes didn’t), and customers adjusted. That was the way the world worked. Brands held the cards and customers just played with the hand they were dealt. It usually meant that there was a lot of compromise on the customer side, but what else was there to do? And let’s be honest; brands tried to make the right decision the best one, but sometimes it favored the brand over the customer. And the world moved on.

Today, oh, today, is much different. Customers talk, they talk loud, and they can let a brand know that a change won’t work and it has to be fixed. That’s right; times have changed and the deck is now being dealt by customers. Because customers have a voice and a platform (or many platforms) to talk about how they feel with regards to a brand. If brands don’t listen, customers will notice and move on.

Facebook bought Instagram. A highly expected move, but the terms of the agreement changed a lot for customers...and a lot for many other brands that use the functionality. So although there will be a nice integration with Facebook all of the photos on Instagram are owned by Instagram and therefore no person, customer, brand, or animal has the rights to their own photos. WHAT?!?! Exactly.

And then the outrage came. Twitter, Facebook, and more. Customers (brands and consumers alike) were outraged. And they let it be known by talking and also making suggestions. For example: if there was a fee, they would pay it as long as their photos where protected.

Right now the Instagram brand’s buyout is less than stellar and Facebook is looking to receive much of this discontent. Why would a brand take something personal away from its customers? Luckily, these days nothing goes unnoticed by customers. And they have a place and a space to talk to brands and make suggestions. In Instagram's case, co-founder Kevin Systrom has responded. It’s like a whole new deck of cards.