Instagram gets it right. A simple, lightweight service with a clean, user-friendly design. Behind the scenes only a small, dedicated team. Their innovative work has led to a deeply engaged community brimming with loyal members. Still, the company’s direction remains uncertain. In light of the New Year, I’d like to share some thoughts on the future of Instagram.

Loyalty

Arguably, Instagram has the most loyal user base around. They’ve created a perfect storm: iPhone exclusivity, emotionally engaging service, robust community, it’s extremely unique. The daily encounters on Instagram are far more intimate than what’s available on twitter, flickr or facebook. And due to the vastly diverse user base, much more valuable. These valuable interactions — combined with the addictive nature of sharing photos — are what elevates the core experience on Instagram. It’s what keeps people coming back. There’s something very emotionally rewarding about viewing and sharing pictures of your life with like-minded people. ¹

It’s OK to Charge for Things

Among all the free services I use, Instagram is one that I would happily pay for. The fantastic business model of worrying about money later while going after market share first has run its course.

Camera+ — an app I commonly use alongside Instagram — does exactly what I think Instagram should do to start generating some revenue. Camera+ is a 99¢ camera and picture editing application. Many of the image editing features are free. However, a special set of filters — which also happen to be the most desirable — are available for sale as an in-app purchase. Instagram should do the exact same thing.

There should be a continuous flow of new filters being made available to the Instagram community as in-app purchases.

Make people need to have every single filter you release. Create demand. Charge 99¢ for individual filters, and sell packs of three for $1.99. Simple. There should be no question as to whether or not people will pay for them. As explained above, don’t mess with the core experience and the loyal community will embrace any effort to generate revenue. Often times, startups feel the need to publicly rationalize their monetization strategies. Instagram wouldn’t need to explain a thing. Launch new filters. Make money. Nobody would question it. ²

Distribution

Instagram has made public comments about developing an Android application. The Instagram team is smart. They know they’ll never be able to match the user experience found on iOS devices with their Android app. Most likely, this revolves around nothing else but wanting more users. However, unless Instagram has grand plans to unveil an advertising strategy, a larger Instagram community does not explicitly equate to making money. Historically, free services that scale too quickly, ultimately rely on lesser-than-great advertising strategies. The folks running the ad-sales for these various companies obviously think their ideas are incredibly innovative. But they never are. It hasn’t happened yet and I’m not sure it ever will. People just don’t like ads.

As of December 2011, only six (or seven) people worked at Instagram. While very impressive, a small team doesn’t lend itself well to a strategy that is geared towards drastically increasing market share.

An Android app would flood the Instagram community with new members. Yes, some would be valuable (I can think of a few good friends — Android users — that I’d love to see on Instagram), yet how many would be nothing but noise? Should we look to the Android Market for that answer? ³

This is a critically important decision that Instagram needs to make. The risk in releasing an Android application — and having the iPhone community revolt due to a complete shock to the core experience — seems too high for comfort. Do they want huge market share? Or do they want to run a premium and profitable service? Do they want to be more like Microsoft or more like Apple?

Operations

As new Android users flood Instagram, the daily demand on Instagram’s team will inevitably increase. They will be responsible for maintaining two completely separate versions of the application, on two completely separate (and competing) development platforms. Even less reassuring, Android is known for having debilitating fragmentation problems.

The size of Instagram’s general business operations will increase. The infrastructure will grow. Costs will go up. There’s no way around it. Twitter has already made a lot of these mistakes. They continue to destroy their service in the hopes of finding a magical advertising solution. The key would have been to keep the service pure and utilitarian. Instead, they went the opposite route. Their mobile apps have tanked in reviews. Users have switched to third-party clients in droves. Top talent that originally helped establish the product has all but vanished. For twitter, getting advertisers on board is now their top priority. For the sake of the Instagram community, I hope we never see the service make some of the mistakes that twitter has recently made.

Moving Forward

First, Instagram needs to focus on making the iPhone app profitable without disturbing its current and devoted user base. Android users haven’t made Instagram the success that it is today. Google hasn’t had a role in any of this. Let them wait until the business model works. Make yourselves profitable. Then consider other platforms.

Take the Apple route of doing business. Maximize profits. Be happy when your market share increases by half a percent, but don’t let it drive the direction (and spirit) of the company. The service is too valuable to be exploited by the masses and made to work on all devices. That would be such a shame. Part of the inherent beauty behind Instagram, is that you know the person on the other end of that photo is holding an iPhone. Once that is lost, the service will forever be changed.

Charging for things should not be a scary thought for the Instagram team. Having a good amount of paying customers is better than having a ton of free users.

Ideally, one day in the future, when Instagram is steadily maximizing profits from its iPhone user base, the idea of an Android application can be explored. The strategy should be meticulously thought out, and the possibility of keeping the communities separate should be evaluated. People choose Android for a reason. And people choose the iPhone for a reason. It’s just the way it is.

Instagram, your service offers something no other service does. It’s truly a little slice of heaven. Please, don’t screw this up.

Rainn Wilson, best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the hit television sitcom The Office, has sent Portland-based technology company Think Brilliant a letter after reaching a settlement in their legal dispute.

Portland, OR — Pursuant to the settlement of Think Brilliant’s litigation against Rainn Wilson and his company SoulPancake, LLC, the Portland-based technology company received a public statement from Mr. Wilson, which reads as follows:

SoulPancake, LLC wishes to express its appreciation for the work and services performed by Think Brilliant Media Studios, LLC from May 2008 through June 2010. We further wish to express our appreciation to the Think Brilliant team, Aviv Hadar, Dave Fields, Darren Buckner, Sam Weston and Tom Fite for their work developing SoulPancake.com.

At the end of our business relationship a dispute arose. Unfortunately, that dispute resulted in a lawsuit. Both parties acknowledge that there were many misunderstandings and release each other from all blame in the matter. -Rainn Wilson, co-founder of SoulPancake.

The litigation which took place in Oregon’s District Court is now resolved (Case No. 3:10-CV-00796-PK — Think Brilliant Media Studios, LLC v. SoulPancake, LLC). Think Brilliant is pleased that the case has been settled. Think Brilliant plans to begin releasing new products in the first half of 2012, starting with an innovative software product aimed at the restaurant industry.

About Think Brilliant: Founded in 2007, Think Brilliant specializes in turning ideas and concepts into real-world products and success. With their unique industry relationships and innovative technology they have played an important role in a number of globally recognized brands and movements.

Contact:
Keri Hendricks
Think Brilliant Media Studios, LLC.
877-TBMS-101
info (at) thinkbrilliant (dot) com

View the full press release at PRWeb

Pursuant to the settlement of our litigation against Rainn Wilson and his company SoulPancake, LLC, Think Brilliant has received an official letter from Rainn Wilson in regards to the resolution of the lawsuit.

The official document below is free to use, reproduce, rebroadcast and redistribute in any way. The letter is transcribed below.

Dec 23, 2011

SoulPancake, LLC wishes to express its appreciation for the work and services performed by Think Brilliant Media Studios, LLC from May 2008 through June 2010. We further wish to express our appreciation to the Think Brilliant team, Aviv Hadar, Dave Fields, Darren Buckner, Sam Weston and Tom Fite for their work developing SoulPancake.com.

At the end of our business relationship a dispute arose. Unfortunately, that dispute resulted in a lawsuit. Both parties acknowledge that there were many misunderstandings and release each other from all blame in the matter.

Rainn Wilson, co-founder of SoulPancake

You can click on the image below to view a full size version, or download a PDF as well.

Download a PDF of the original document here.

The post below was written by Michael R. Seidl, the lead attorney representing Think Brilliant in our U.S. District Court case against SoulPancake, LLC and its principles.

Update: We are excited to announce that this case has settled. More information coming soon.

We appreciate those of you who have continued to express your interest and support in the development of Think Brilliant’s work.  As you may know, Think Brilliant, along with the individuals who were involved in developing the software for the SoulPancake.com website are involved in a lawsuit against Rainn Wilson, and his company that owns the SoulPancake.com website.  That lawsuit is pending in U.S. District Court in Portland.  We are in the process of discovery. 
 
A trial has been scheduled for March 20, 2012 in Portland.  We hope to resolve this lawsuit through negotiation, but if a trial is necessary in March, we look forward to concluding the dispute at that time. 
 
In the meantime, Think Brilliant continues to offer its products and services.  We hope that you will continue in your support and encouragement.
 
Michael R. Seidl
Attorney at Law

We recently sold MacBlogz.com. At times the process was daunting, but the knowledge we gained was priceless. This entry hopes to shed some light on what it’s really like to have a piece of software acquired.

MacBlogz.com was one of our first products. During its first two years the site grew rapidly and a vibrant community emerged around it. Through writing for the site we got to know some incredible people, attend some great events and make some lifelong connections. For this, we’ll be eternally grateful.

Parting with MacBlogz was difficult on a nostalgic and sentimental level. Saying goodbye to a product that we lovingly cared for was tough. On the flip side, the knowledge that we gained by going through the process is priceless. We successfully had an application acquired, and to us, at any level, that’s a big deal.

Revenue comes first

Buyers care about revenue first. Every potential buyer we spoke with (and there were many), inquired about revenue within the first few minutes of our initial conversation. Generally, the going rule is applied like so: Add up all revenue the application has generated over the most recent two year period, subtract costs, add traffic value, and be thankful to get an offer valued at 50% of your final “calculated” price. Revenue doesn’t lie, and there’s no revenue/stat manipulation that will help you seem more desirable to any potential buyers.

Traffic is transparent

Be prepared to share your traffic statistics with people you don’t know. Make sure you can easily grant permission to third parties. Organize all of your analytics into a cohesive and presentable package. No matter what service you use to track web traffic and measure performance statistics/analytics, if someone asks for numbers, be prepared to dish them out. Most potential buyers (the smart ones) investigate trends, ask questions about performance and do their best to simulate running the application from behind the driver’s seat.

Technology is the foundation

Keep your technology clean and secure. Prior to putting MacBlogz on the market, we made sure the technology and underlying infrastructure was in pristine working condition. Configurations were further cleaned up and triple-checked, we optimized our code, secured the databases, bullet-proofed some of the custom functions of the site, and generally got it all ready to be handed off. You should be doing all of this regularly, however, prior to an acquisition, it is absolutely critical that all of the necessary steps are taken to ensure the integrity (and appearance) of your technology. Any potential buyers will either be investigating your technology themselves, or they’ll have developers nearby that can analyze your code and setup. Make sure they walk away impressed.

Good brokers are rare

If your product makes money, finding a variety of buyers is relatively easy — finding a good buyer is tough. Early on in acquisition talks, we made it very clear that in terms of offers, we would lean heavily towards a startup or one-man shop, instead of a corporation that would simply pump ads through the domain. We wanted to keep the integrity of MacBlogz in tact, and we didn’t want to see it get tossed into an endless bucket of news aggregators on some overseas servers. Connecting with a broker that knew the types of people we were seeking was critical.

Honesty is gold

Whether you’re a startup that needs to rearrange its resources, or a one-man shop that’s in need of some cash, be honest about why you’re selling your product. Help any potential buyers get inside your mind. Help them understand the ups and downs of your product, the areas that could be improved, and the channels that generate the most revenue. They will better understand your position and appreciate knowing about all the nooks and crannies up front. Fundamentally, it is your job to effectively communicate what it’s like to run the show.

——————————————

The folks who bought MacBlogz.com wasted no time in redesigning the site. It used to look like this. Now, not so much. For a small software startup like ours, this has been one of our greatest achievements. Thank you to the devoted MacBlogz community, and thank you for all the support Think Brilliant has received over the years. We hope to continue building great products and making meaningful contributions with our software.

Some facts about MacBlogz.com

“Back in the day people went to one doctor for everything. Now, people go to a specialist.” -Tyme White

While reading an interesting article on drawar.com titled You are a manipulator, the first comment in the discussion really got me thinking. Tyme White (@Tyme), the comment’s author, suggests that just as other industries have fallen into extremely specialized arenas, so too will web design.

It’s an interesting concept. Just as engineers and developers can specialize in a particular development language, imagine if designers specialized in specific areas of layout or design. Picture header designers, sidebar designers, footer designers and navigation experts. Even more granular, drop shadow experts, gradient experts, and button experts. We already have logo specialists, typography specialists, icon designers, color analysts, information architects and so on.

Fundamentally, I would like to believe that as an industry we won’t fear more designers, but embrace them. Being against “design by committee” isn’t a justified reason to shy away from something new. Would this specialized design industry cause a “too many cooks in the kitchen” type scenario? Personally, if I saw a talented designer’s portfolio that specialized in sidebar layouts, I wouldn’t disregard their work because our team already has amazing designers, I’d reach out.

By further specializing the design world, we’d be opening the door for millions of future designers, tons of innovation and even deeper collaboration with each other.

It takes some cojones to slap a video on your product’s homepage. Done right, it can be great, but execute poorly and you’re right back to square one.

For the sake of argument, let’s compare four different videos. One from Shopify.com (a web based ‘build your own shop’ shop), one from Dropbox.com (a magical box in the cloud that synchs your files), one from Groupon.com (a social coupon based network of local deals), and one from Foursquare.com (a location based social check-in service).

Groupon

Groupon’s video showcases some killer graphics and gets straight to the point. Within seconds you’re interested in what’s going on. It’s clear that extremely talented designers had their hand in this video. The timing is great, the soundtrack works, and it’s not too long. Coming in at 1 minute 34 seconds, this is a (very successful) textbook product marketing video, executed well.

Dropbox

Dropbox takes a slightly different approach, opening their video with a metaphor. If you can relate to the metaphor early on, chances are you’ll try the product. The graphics are excellent, and the lack of a soundtrack makes you focus on the narrative. At 2 minutes 16 seconds, the video weighs in a bit on the long end, but it’s a good use of time. Very well done.

Foursquare

Foursquare went with a slightly different approach. It’s an appropriate length at 1 minute 58 seconds, but the step-by-step breakdown makes the video feel too long. The breakdown definitely brings value in explaining the concept of the service, but a clever metaphor about getting out and exploring around town with your friends might be a bit more relatable.

Shopify

Shopify’s video leaves me wanting more, a lot more. I love the product and am an advocate for its use when someone asks me where to begin with an online shop. This video, however, does the product a disservice. The name of the company isn’t mentioned until the very end, and trying to get potential customers to relate with a cupcake baker in Toronto, Canada probably wasn’t the best choice. This video is meant to live on a Case Studies page, or in a Testimonials section. But as a product pitch video, front and center at Shopify.com, it doesn’t work.

It’s not easy to market a web service. You spend a lot of time and money developing a product you hope people find useful, and then attempt to charge a fair rate for its use. As we just went over, often times, web services will try and explain their entire product in short, quirky little videos that potential customers can watch. These videos can have a tremendous impact on any service’s adoption rate. If you can clearly explain the concept, purpose and value of your product in a quick video, chances are people will relate with what you’re trying to sell them. Adversely, a video that further blurs the concept of your product can quickly cause some turbulence. In a nutshell, if a video is the first thing potential customers are going to see, make it a good one.

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

Of course, you should follow us on twitter and Facebook, or connect via email, Aviv (at) thinkbrilliant (dot) com.

Every so often Think Brilliant releases a brand spanking new desktop image for your downloading pleasure. This week’s image is a captivating shot of some early morning dew drops and mist.

Early Morning Dewdrops

Every so often Think Brilliant releases a brand spanking new desktop image for your downloading pleasure. This week’s image is a stunning sunset over the Pacific Ocean from the magnificent Oregon Coast.

Sunset Over the Pacific

I’ve been running into a frustrating issue on both my iPad and my iPhone lately. After purchasing or downloading a new app, the device installs it on the last home-screen, in the last position available, and I then have to move it. This can get annoying.

The Problem

The crux of the problem is this: Moving a freshly downloaded application from the last home-screen to the first home-screen requires a lot of finagling and quite a bit of luck. Often times I find myself holding onto the jiggly icon and praying that I can move it fluidly to the location I want it. Generally, I’ll lose track of the icon or have to slide between too many home-screens, and what was supposed to be a quick gesture, turns into a couple of minutes of frustration.

Proposed Solution

I’ve mocked up a proposed solution that works as follows: 1) The user performs a gesture on the app icon, either a double finger hold, or a swipe, the options are relatively endless. (The only gesture that can’t be used is a single finger hold, since that currently invokes the “jiggle-move-delete” combination).

2) Once the user performs the new gesture (either the double finger swipe, or a double finger hold), a new contextual fly-out menu appears displaying a grid of numbers. Each number represents a different home-screen. 3) Click on a number and that app is moved to the corresponding home-screen. The fly-out menu would be smart enough to know how many home-screens the device’s owner is currently using, as well as knowing what screen you’re currently viewing. Additionally, it would be able to tell how close it is to any particular edge of the device, and would popup accordingly.

Additional note: Folders are not a solution to this problem. They alleviate an entirely different set of issues revolving around app organization and access. The issue I’ve outlined in this article would work hand in hand with Apple’s implementation of Folders in iOS.

Keep in mind this is purely conceptual and I’m entirely open to feedback. I’d love to hear any and all thoughts that anyone has pertaining to this issue. Most of all, I’m curious to see what pitfalls this proposed solution has.

Of course, you should follow us on twitter and Facebook, or connect via email, Aviv (at) thinkbrilliant (dot) com.