Instagram debuts user feeds on the Web

Photo sharing app takes another step toward building presence on the Web

While most Web properties are doing all they can to go mobile, Instagram is doing the exact opposite these days, going from being a mobile only app to full fledged Web property. The photo sharing service took another step in that direction Tuesday, introducing its feeds for the Web.

"Today, I’m very excited to announce the launch of a product we’ve been wanting to build for quite some time now. Since our launch in October of 2010, we’ve focused on building a simple app that has inspired creativity while capturing everyday moments through the lens of your mobile phone. In fact, our focus on building out a mobile-only experience is a unique path that we’ve chosen for many reasons, the most important of which is that Instagram, at its core, is about seeing and taking photos on-the-go," Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom wrote.

"However, to make Instagram even more accessible to our growing community, at the end of last year we started to expand to the desktop web, giving you the ability to see profiles from instagram.com. To continue that path, as of today, you can now browse your Instagram feed on the web – just like you do on your mobile device."

All a user has to do is go to instagram.com and log in to their account to see their feed, which looks like it does on the mobile app. Users can browse the latest photos of the users they are following, like photos by double clicking on them or pressing the like button and comment on those photos.

Putting user feeds on the Web version of Instagram is just the latest step in taking the service away from being mobile only.

In November,  Instagram announced that it would creating Web profiles for each one of its users. The Instagram profiles display every users’ pictures and which can be shared with friends. They essentially serves as a Facebook profile exclusively for Instagram pictures. Users can follow each other, as well as  comment and like photos. The profiles can be edited directly from the web.

One thing that users cannot do, though, is upload pictures from the web. They can still only be uploaded from a mobile device.

The same month, in order to help “link to and promote” those new Web profiles, Instagram introduced Instagram badges. The badges come in three different square sizes, or you can choose one that says “View on Instagram.” They can be added to a website or blog, in order to link back to a user’s Instagram profile. They work much like the Twitter bird icons, or the Pinterest P’s.

Instagram's focus on being a successful Web property became clear in December, when it stopped allowing its photos to be inbedded into Tweets, instead putting up a link to bring users back to Instagram.com.

"We believe that you should be able to access Instagram on a variety of different devices, any of which may be convenient to you at a given moment – including your desktop computer or tablet," Systrom wrote Tuesday. "We do not offer the ability to upload from the web as Instagram is about producing photos on the go, in the real world, in realtime. On the other hand, Instagram for the web is focused on making the browsing experience a fast, simple and enjoyable one."

(Image source: https://blog.instagram.com)