Popular apps for smartphones include social media, games and photo sharing apps. Two specific photo sharing apps that are particularly popular, especially on college campuses, are Instagram and VSCO. These apps are similar and different in many ways and every user has their reasoning for why they like both, just one or just neither.
Instagram was founded in October 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. The idea of this app came from three problems that the creators wanted to solve. The problems they wanted to solve included creating filters that transform photos into professional looking pictures, sharing one picture on multiple services instantly and creating a fast and efficient uploading process.
The first part of the name Instagram came from old cameras that marketed themselves as instant. Telegrams used to be sent over wires to others, similar to snapshots, so they decided to combine the two ideas to create the name Instagram.
The free photo sharing app is available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store and had over 100,000 users within the first week. The app allows users to post photos for friends and family to see and interact with.
Sophomore film and media arts major at Temple University, Zachary Lloyd said, “The main factor that drove me to download [Instagram] was the fact that I could post pictures and express my creativity while sharing with others.”
There are two privacy settings for Instagram, public or private. If the account is public, any user on the app is able to view, like and comment on the other users photos. If the account is private, the owner of the account must approve all follower requests. Then, only their followers are allowed to see and interact with their content.
“Instagram is probably my favorite because you can do more on it and interact with friends whereas on VSCO all you can do is edit and post,” Sophomore exercise science major, Brittany McCullough, said.
VSCO, short for Visual Supply Company, on the other hand, was created by Joel Flory and Greg Lutze in 2012. This free app allows users to use filters provided on the app and post pictures for their followers to see. The app offers in-app purchases which allows users to buy more filters that are not provided for free.
“I downloaded VSCO because it had more editing options than Instagram at the time. It allowed me to change levels such as exposure, saturation, and contrast. So for a while VSCO was my go to for editing my photos that I would export and post to Instagram,” Lloyd said. “Instagram eventually evolved and added more editing options so now I can do everything I need to in one app.”
Unlike Instagram, this app had over 1 million downloads in the first week. VSCO also does not allow users to like or comment on other users photos and showcases users photos in reverse chronological order.
“I decided to download VSCO last year because it was not nearly as popular as Instagram for picture uploading, so I knew I would be able to post pictures more personal to me and pictures I normally would not post on Instagram,” Junior early childhood and special education major, Jackie Witherow said.
“I decided to download VSCO because in my senior year of high school it became really popular in my school, and I liked the idea of posting pictures of whatever you wanted without having to worry about likes,” Sophomore marketing major, Kasey Alff said.
While everyone has their own reasons for which app they prefer, Instagram and VSCO are both apps that are very popular for sharing and creating photos.
