Instagram - Billion Dollar phone app

[nightfly]

Aristotle and many others would disagree with you:

http://www.enotes.com/topic/Metaphor

"Metaphors are comparisons that show how two things that are not alike in most ways are similar in one important way. A metaphor is more forceful (active) than an analogy, because metaphor asserts two things are the same, whereas analogy implies a difference; other rhetorical comparative figures of speech, such as metonymy, parable, simile and synecdoche, are species of metaphor distinguished by how the comparison is communicated.[1]"

1 The Oxford Companion to the English Language (1992) pp.653–55: "A rhetorical figure with two senses, both originating with Aristotle in the 4c BC: (I) All figures of speech that achieve their effects through association, comparison and resemblance. Figures like antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy and simile are [in that sense] all species of metaphor.

I think for most people whether a comparison uses the word "as" or "like" is really irrelevant to the overall sense of meaning so I side with those who think that a simile is a type of metaphor.

Sorry, but you're wrong. Metaphors and similes are two different types of figures of speech. A simile is not a metaphor and a metaphor is not a simile.

 

[Jamie123]

Aristotle and many others would disagree with you:

http://www.enotes.com/topic/Metaphor

"Metaphors are comparisons that show how two things that are not alike in most ways are similar in one important way. A metaphor is more forceful (active) than an analogy, because metaphor asserts two things are the same, whereas analogy implies a difference; other rhetorical comparative figures of speech, such as metonymy, parable, simile and synecdoche, are species of metaphor distinguished by how the comparison is communicated.[1]"

1 The Oxford Companion to the English Language (1992) pp.653–55: "A rhetorical figure with two senses, both originating with Aristotle in the 4c BC: (I) All figures of speech that achieve their effects through association, comparison and resemblance. Figures like antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy and simile are [in that sense] all species of metaphor.

I think for most people whether a comparison uses the word "as" or "like" is really irrelevant to the overall sense of meaning so I side with those who think that a simile is a type of metaphor.

If you're going to quote an enotes.com page which quotes a Wikipedia page, why not go directly to Wikipedia

Metaphors are most frequently compared with similes. The Colombia Encyclopedia, 6th edition, explains the difference as:

"Metaphors are most frequently compared with similes. The Colombia Encyclopedia, 6th edition, explains the difference as:
a simile states that A is like B, a metaphor states that A is B or substitutes B for A. "

But in all fairness, going back to your original comment I see that you actually did say that Facebook is the Stasi while Aristophanes whose post I was originally replying to was likening Facebook to the Stasi.

 

[wblynch]

It's all part of the US government's spying and tracking infrastructure. Since everything is posted publicly and voluntarily, there is no 'right to privacy' and no warrants are required.

Face recognition systems can isolate you or anyone in your pictures instantly and GPS information embedded in the photo or at least IP address mapping can find out everywhere you and your friends have been.

$1 billion is cheap.

 

[useless generation]

It's only a matter of time before Facebook ruins instagram. With adds or stupid updates and their own cool new features integrating Facebook and instagram blah blah it was fun while it lasted.

 

[PatrickCheung]

it's become my form of twitter. It's just an app for me to connect with my friends with. They snap a pic, I snap one, we can instantly see what the other is up to. It's kinda cool! But as mentioned before, it doesn't say much for the future of photography. Well. Depends on what you think photography is. Do you think iPhonetography is a form of photography? If you do, then maybe instagram has the potential to change the future of photography in your eyes.

I just wish the android version of instagram had the fake tilt-shift effect!

 

[Aristophanes]

It's not about whether or not Instagram itself will generate any revenue.They purchased one of the photography apps on the iPhone with an established user base. Call it marketing if you will but there is a LOT of value in marketing. I don't think it's so much about investing in order to gain a ROI as it is about just buying the competition that were better at something that facebook wanted to do themselves.
Instagram is probably not worth $1bn but they probably wouldn't have sold if Facebook didn't make an offer that was too good to refuse. As for internet bubble acquisitions, everyone's been saying that Facebook's overvalued for a long time and maybe it's a bubble but I just don't see it bursting anytime soon. And while it's true that Facebooks revenue is modest in relation to it's user base they still made $3.7bn in 2011 (according to Wikipedia) which isn't bad considering it's a company with only around 3000 employees (again, accordiing to Wikipedia).

If it does not generate revenue, then why buy it?

Instagram appeals to exactly the same crowd as FB does. Likely, FB bought its own customers already!

$1 billion is a huge price for a product that is free, costs nothing to develop, and has no proven ROI. Overpaying to eliminate the competition is not sound biz, not before an IPO. These things add up. This is how guys like Zucker become marginalized by some of their own investors.

FB has had difficulty "monetizing" its user base. Their revenues are paltry and based on a single source of non-recurring data. Instagram is supposed to help? How? It's a profile acquisition, making a move to say "look what we can do with our (your) money".

Bubbles pop. Balloons shrivel. This acquisition shows that FB is more like a balloon.

I am one of those analysts that fails to see how FB is going to greatly increase its revenue stream without p***ing off its user base through intrusive hard selling. Data profiles have diminishing returns as any pollster will tell you. Instagram will not help an of that one bit.

 

[Aristophanes]

It's all part of the US government's spying and tracking infrastructure. Since everything is posted publicly and voluntarily, there is no 'right to privacy' and no warrants are required.

Face recognition systems can isolate you or anyone in your pictures instantly and GPS information embedded in the photo or at least IP address mapping can find out everywhere you and your friends have been.

1. You sign a contract when you use Instagram. So, no, you have no right to privacy when you contract it away. It's not public. It's a private contract. A warrant is required to access private data.

2. Huge amounts of data without context are not a business asset, they are a liability. Information overload friction is a drag on productivity, not a lubricant.

 

[marcr1230]

to moderators re the moved thread - this has little common ground with "Making Photo $$$" - I object. This is about the business to business transaction and about how we use/like instagram. not how to make our own version and sell it for $$$

 

[wblynch]

1. You sign a contract when you use Instagram. So, no, you have no right to privacy when you contract it away. It's not public. It's a private contract. A warrant is required to access private data.

2. Huge amounts of data without context are not a business asset, they are a liability. Information overload friction is a drag on productivity, not a lubricant.

Go ahead and keep believing that. There is Homeland Security and the "Patriot" act. You have no more rights.