Facebook Photo Filters Coming Soon
If there's one thing that Zuckerberg hates, it's Instagram. Actually I'm pretty sure he's not the least vengeful fellow in the bunch, but at the moment it appears that one of the groups Facebook is about to take on is, indeed, the photo filtering group itself. If you're a frequenter of Facebook, and if you're reading this article I must assume that you are, you know that one of the most popular activities on the social networking site is sharing photos. Over the past couple of years since the mobile smartphone device really started to pick up, these photos have become more and more prevalent as well as more and more skillfully shot – this depends entirely on who your friends are, of course. One thing that I, the people I know, and I'm sure you have noticed is the upturn of photos with odd filters having been put over them. Facebook sees this trend and knows.
What one of the most popular photo filtering apps on the market today is called is Instagram. Back on the 3rd of August, 2011, we wrote about how Instagram had hit 150 million photos. As Facebook sees an opportunity to replicate the ability to take photos and place a lovely effect over the top of them like Instagram (amongst many an alternate service) does, so too do they seek out the ability to make it happen inside the family.
According to engineers and developers working on the project speaking with the New York Times have said, an unnamed project is essentially ready to be released right this second, but Zuckerberg is said to not be satisfied with the amount of filters available at this time. These same sources say that the project has been "ready" for a while now but a precisely timed launch is likely the methodology behind holding it back until now (or sometime in the near future, as it were.)
There will be a launch with right around 12 filters in total once the time is right, many of them being similar to the old-fashioned physically-processed looking effects popular with the hipster crowd these days, false reproductions of old lenses galore. The same sources speaking with NYT have mentioned that Facebook attempted to purchase Instagram this summer at some point but were unable to reach a deal – at the same time you should note that Instagram currently boasts a over 8 million users and a recent $7 million USD boost for further expansion. We're thinking the two won't be shaking hands any time soon.
[via New York Times]