海角大神

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook鈥檚 acquisition of the popular photo sharing app Instagram on Monday afternoon. Facebook 鈥渋s planning鈥� to pay $1 billion in cash and stock for the apps and connected social network.

鈥淔or years, we鈥檝e focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family,鈥� Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. 鈥淣ow, we鈥檒l be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.鈥�

He assured people that Instagram would remain a relatively independent entity. Users will still be able to post photos to other social networks and opt out of posting them on Facebook altogether.

鈥淭his is an important milestone for Facebook because it鈥檚 the first time we鈥檝e ever acquired a product and company with so many users,鈥� the post said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 plan on doing many more of these, if any at all.鈥�

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom released a statement on the company blog, further assuring users that while the companies will be joining forces, Facebook won鈥檛 monopolize Instagram. Instead, they say, each will help the other flourish.

鈥淚t鈥檚 important to be clear that Instagram is not going away,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淲e鈥檒l be working with Facebook to evolve Instagram and build the network. We鈥檒l continue to add new features to the product and find new ways to create a better mobile photos experience.鈥�

Instagram rose to popularity after its Oct. 2010 release and now has 30 million iPhone users, as well as at least one million on Android. After releasing Instagram for Android on April 3rd 鈥� a highly-anticipated move that had 430,000 Android users on a waiting list 鈥� the photo sharing app vastly increased its potential value. By expanding beyond iOS, Instagram may be able to double its membership, something that Facebook must have been aware of.

Apple deemed Instagram its 鈥渄efinitive鈥� app of 2010 because it鈥檚 鈥渘ear-impossible to take a bad shot,鈥澛燼ccording to The Washington Post. The app lets users take filtered photos in black and white, sepia, and tens of other settings. Users can share their photos with other users and view popular images and comment or 鈥渓ike鈥� them.

Instagram has a similar interface to Facebook, which also only allows fellow members to comment or 鈥渓ike鈥� each other鈥檚 posts.

We can only wait to see what comes of Facebook鈥檚 acquisition, but one thing is clear 鈥� one of the world鈥檚 most influential companies just got a bit more powerful.

For more tech news, follow us on Twitter @venturenaut. And don鈥檛 forget to sign up for the weekly BizTech newsletter.