Three Reasons Facebook Camera Will Work

You can definitely tell that Instagram had nothing to do with Facebook Camera...it's pretty terrible. Mobile apps just aren't their game. If and when Facebook closes Instagram, I will not be a happy camper!

Yeah, and it works on Android (unlike Instagram, duh) for all the iPeople out there that are not part of the iJobs cult (ure). Of course, I am being an iAss. @DannyBrown is so right. The FB app alone on Android is very cumbersome. Me no likee.....

BTW, I "lost" my smartphone so I need a new one. Anyone like the Samsung Note?

I guess one year from now FB will cry thinking of having paid all that money for Instagram. The IPO isn't going that well right?

But probably they developed FaceBook Camera because their 950 millions users are not interested in Instagram which brings back to why they bought it. Probably this is business intelligence too deep for me. :)

Excellent points, all.

I believe the person with the quote about slideshows/FB photos was Barbara Nixon--it struck me too!

I agree with you that a lot of Facebook's interactive activity is around photos (it's also where, with facial recognition, some problems for privacy could re-emerge). It makes sense for them to go this direction, I just hope that they are smart about it and don't have scanning technology that turns into "did you 'like' Lindsey's wedding dress? Buy it here! <link>" etc.

I have a few contact that was formally with PostRank, the great service recently killed off by google (sniff!) after purchase.  I was told that what google bought with PostRank wasn't the technology, but the talent.  I think that may be what is going on with instagram, at least in part.  

Just like google+ (and what I consider its failure so far) the proof for facebook is always in the integration of all these kewl toys.  A seamless one-stop shop for "appliance users" is always going to have a place advantage over leading-edge stuff with too many options that appeals to the cool kids - it's a different, and much bigger market.

There was a great article on RWW after Facebook bought instagram on how it was all about the data. When people post through instagram they are capturing all sorts of meta data around location, timing, and very precise info. When someone posts to Facebook through instagram Facebook misses out on that data - which means missed opportunity to have more targeted ads and to know more about each individual. Of course Facebook wants a piece of that pie - with or without the acquisition.

I think they both have a place. The Facebook mobile app allows all of us who want to easily post our photos from anything, perhaps a conference, family vacation etc., seamlessly to Facebook (finally). I think Instagram though is different in that it's meant for more artistic photos and I don't think people necessarily care as much about sharing these with grandma or garnering comments from friends. It's a more artistic view of the world. Although how people use it varies, this is just my personal take. My sister has a rule for Instagram - no staged pictures of people. In saying that, I think there's value in both the more user friendly photo app for Facebook, which enables us to share our "family photo album" more easily and then Instagram, which serves a more creative purpose as an outlet for sharing more artistic photos of your life or things that inspire you. 

Actually, the addition of the Camera app actually caused me to delete the main Facebook app. My primary purpose in keeping the Facebook app -- which has a God awful UX as you have noted here before.  I think the Camera app let's me publish photos without dealing with Facebook's nightmare interface and that's a plus, plus.  In addition, when I publish photos on Instagram over to Facebook, the Timeline integration doesn't trigger the deep notifications that a native Facebook photo post does. I don't care what people say about this, I have posted a photo on Instagram, seen no likes, unlisted it from Timeline (still keeping it in the stream, then posted the very same photo directly to Facebook and watched it go gonzo. 

My $.02 for you.

I think you're dead on with your thinking, Gini.  People already using Instagram will most likely stay there in that it delivers, and it also offers integration with other services that the early adopter crowd will have a desire to use (Tumblr, Twitter, Foursquare).  

That said, everyone else on Facebook could probably care less about this apps. They're not nerds, but 'everyday' Facebook users. For those folks, this app is an attractive alternative. The kicker will be in how Facebook decides to roll it out to the existing user base. I feel like they've never been very good at getting their own apps in front of the user base.  Will be interesting to see their next move, and if the investigation scares them into litigation paralysis for a few weeks...

Thanks for the overview BFF - was noodling the pros and cons here so your points are well taken.  And of course when you get feedback like "the FB experience on mobile as it stands is shit on all platforms"...from Danny Brown well what more does one need to make up their mind?  LOL 

One reason Facebook Camera will not work - the FB experience on mobile as it stands is shit on all platforms. Until they sort that out, they'll continue to struggle. 

If you say so, I'm gonna have to trust you on this one...................that.is.all. 

And yes, the Cubbies are rebuilding; I'm glad they didn't stick Ryan Sandberg with that task, there was very little upside for him to try and have any success this year. 

If I was Instagram I would sabotage the deal and get bought by Apple or Google. Especially since 70% of the deal with in Facebook shares and we know where they are going.

The one issue I have with all the photo apps is the sharing. I upload a lot of photos to twitter of places and food but rarely of people and never the place I live. because when i upload everyone sees. Same with facebook I stopped adding photos for the most part because often I just have a few people I want to see them and not my whole network.. And when I see instagram uploads on twitter usually it is places and food. So curious if camera will have any privacy controls (i assume not since it is facebook?)

On a positive note about time Facebook spent some time to improve the user experience vs the brand experience.

Yeah, it'll work... And hopefully it will draw the teenage girls who post pictures of their fingernails and jailbait shots in bikinis away from instagram! The FB cam will probably be more of a social picture site for stuff like that, rather that the artsy photos on IG. Now a quick call out... You say that you're on instagram, but it's not like you actually use it more than 4x a year :P