In a bid to propel growth in areas where networks are slow and data is expensive, Instagram is introducing some remarkable upgrades into its mobile websites which incorporates the basic feature of the main app, including photo sharing and a lightweight version of the Explore tab.
The mobile and desktop websites were not particularly useful until now, because they only supported browsing, Like, follow and search options apart from viewing notifications. Uploading pics is still not available for the desktop website. Meanwhile, this March Instagram added the feature of sharing from mobile web and now it is adding an Explore tab to it as well. Some features which have still not found their way to the mobile app are video uploads, filters, Stories, and Direct Messaging.
While speaking with TechCrunch, the company said:
Instagram.com (accessed from mobile) is a web experience optimized for mobile phones. It’s designed to help people have a fuller experience on Instagram no matter what device or network they are on.
The web launch is an extension to Instagram’s global strategy inclined towards its 80% user base outside the United States. Other products, which are a part of this thread include web sign-up, a better on-boarding flow for low-end Android users, and the latest incorporation of offline functionality. All this has helped Instagram in achieving the landmark of 700 million monthly users. The company continued to have an average addition of 100 million users per nine month for a few years before its latest achievement of securing 100 million users in just four months.
In the present generation, many users from the developing countries do not have an access to good Internet in order to download the Instagram app. Some people do not have sufficient storage capacity for downloading the app without compromising with other apps. And the cost for data required to download the app could be inconvenient to many people as well.
The upgraded mobile and desktop web versions may save some valuable time which would be spent during downloading, the data costs along with storage memory, and may still avail all the basic functionalities. This leads us to the question whether there will be a launch of Instagram Lite, which would be similar to Facebook Lite and Messenger Lite.
The social networks have already reached a saturation point in the western world, and therefore, the responsibility is to expand them in the areas where they have hardly penetrated, or are lesser popular. The user potential in those areas is incredible and can not be ignored. This new launch could well help the company towards the same.
