There's no doubt about it -- Instagram really annoyed many of its users when it changed its terms and conditions recently, giving itself the right to sell your photos to use in adverts without you seeing a penny. But what is in doubt is how many stroppy hipsters actually upped and left the service.
A report claimed the photo-sharing app saw a quarter of its latte-wielding customers flee over Christmas, but Instragram has denied it, Gizmodo reports.
The rumour came from a company called AppData, which tracks the stats of Instagram owners Facebook. AppData claimed the number of Instagram's "daily active users" dropped by 25 per cent over the last week, although Instagram denies this.
"This data is inaccurate," a company spokesperson told Gizmodo. "We continue to see strong and steady growth in both registered and active users of Instagram."
The issue seems to be that AppData's sample size is too small, accounting only for those who connect their Facebook and Instagram accounts. AppData's other stats say the number of Instagram's weekly and monthly users are on the rise. Monthly users are up from just over 40 million to around 45 million, for example.
Nevertheless, Facebook's stock took a pummelling over the rumour, dropping half a per cent.
Instagram hit the headlines just before Christmas, thanks to changes in its terms of service. It promptly U-turned, changing the wording, and claiming it didn't ever intend to sell your snaps to advertising companies. Honest.
It recently fell out with Twitter, too. Any Instagram snaps posted in tweets will show up as links, unless you use a workaround. Twitter has brought out its own filters to give your photos a hipster tinge, though they're not on a par with Instagram's, from the examples I've seen.
Did you turn your back on Instagram? What do you think of its change of policy? Let me know in the comments, or on Facebook.
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Comments 8
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anonymous 30 December, 2012 13:03
I delete it :)
anonymous 30 December, 2012 19:09
So technically they must own the rights of your photos or they would not be able to sell the photos without your permission. That's scary...I would never use them after hearing this. I'm surprised there still around and everyone hasn't left them yet.
anonymous 31 December, 2012 00:15
I deleted my account, no way was a company going to use me like Instagram were planning to do.
It should serve as a warning to these companies, as quick as you rise.......a mistake and a delete and it's goodnight ! It will happen to one of these large .com companies soon I guarantee it because they are all starting to take advantage.
anonymous 31 December, 2012 08:04
"Stroppy", "latte-wielding" hipsters? No need to be an asshole, dude. What is this constant trend for hipster bashing? You realise they are this websites key demographic, don't you?
ace9988 31 December, 2012 20:36
Why would they even admit to the truth like that with zuckerberg at the helm. Instagram lost users, fact, 25%, maybe so, denial? definitely.
Your's truly, a former instagram user :)
anonymous 2 January, 2013 11:17
Instagram went way over their heads...
anonymous 2 January, 2013 11:23
99% of the images on instagram are of food with the title "nom nom nom"
I couldn't possibly care less what any company does with those images.
anonymous 2 January, 2013 14:05
Stupid hipsters.... Good for you, you're all idiots anyway. Instagram is the most retarded application ever developed and I'm glad you're all screwed by them.