I just talked with Dirk Stoop who is one of the guys who runs the new Photo app team at Facebook.
This is a very interesting app, and one that will have deep implications for how we all use Facebook.
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One thing that Dirk couldn’t comment on is Instagram, so I will give you my theory on that here:
My theory about why we’ll use Facebook’s new Photo app instead of Instagram:
One major advantage it will have over Instagram is media distribution. Most of us who use Instagram notice that most of our photos just don’t get distributed to many of our friends if we shoot them on Instagram. If we upload them separately into Facebook directly they get a LOT more distribution!
I expect the same will be true of this app. This will be the #1 reason I reach for this instead of Instagram. I have a LOT more followers on Facebook (257,000 vs 25,000) and the engagement I get on Facebook overall is a lot more important to me than anything that happens to my photos over on Instagram.
I will test this out many times over the next week and we’ll see which images get more distribution. I can’t imagine a world where a Facebook app doesn’t get distribution on Facebook.
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Other thoughts based on my conversation with Dirk?
1. Each photo you take is worth 4 to 20 “likes.” Why? Well, lets say you take a photo of your family at Squaw Valley. That’s one like right there. ANother for time of day/season. Now Facebook knows whether you are hiking/biking or skiing there. Important for Facebook to know that. Two likes. If you are skiing with your family or friends, you hook in your social graph. Another one to four likes. Plus, all the commentary underneath about what you are doing. And I’m forgetting all the potential sensor data like compass, temperature, etc.
2. This is a good signal about Facebook’s mobile strategy. I wonder how many more other separate apps we will get. We already have two (messages and photos). I am already hearing rumors about a completely new Facebook app in development. When we’ll see that, and how much of the Photos app we’ll see in that, will be interesting to see unfold but for now it looks like Facebook will roll out several separate apps focused on one experience of using Facebook.
3. Facebook has a very strong privacy model now and this is articulated in the app’s UI (each post can be sent to public, a small group, or just one person, if you want). Most people don’t trust Facebook and it will be interesting to see the UI and how that gets people to trust Facebook’s privacy model. The biggest competition for Facebook photos is email, not Instagram.
4. It does not upload full resolution. It has two settings: 960×960 pixels on 3G or 2048×2048 if you are on wifi (this is changeable in settings).
5. Facebook isn’t yet “over the freaky line” with this app. They aren’t studying any sensor data other than the image data here. But they are looking at the EXIF data from each image to try to find the proper location, even in advance of uploading the photo so it can help you mark where you shot that group of photos. I’m actually surprised that they aren’t using sensor data like from compass, temperature sensor, etc, but that’s a good sign for everyday users that Facebook wants to stay on the right side of the freaky line.
