Facetagram? Facebook Buys Instagram for $1 Billion

You either love Instagram or you don't. Regardless of how you might feel about it, thirty million users from all over the world have helped turn it into one of the most popular image sharing networks on the web.

Aside from its legion users, Facebook is also apparently a huge fan. In face, Facebook's people love Instagram so much that they've shelled out $1 billion in order to acquire the two-year-old start-up.

It's Facebook's largest acquisition to date, and they didn't even wait until their initial public offering to make their purchase. Mobile has always been one of Facebook's weaknesses, but it's something the network aims to address by using Instagram's largely mobile user base.

Mark Zuckerberg addressed the concerns of some existing users by explaining that they'd still be able to share their photos on Facebook's rival social networks. He also expressed his excitement at the impact that the acquisition will make on the network.

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. But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together.

-- Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook

Article by Hazel Chua
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