Like a tale from Silicon Valley, the story of Instagram's meteoric rise unfolds. With billions of users actively using it, the photo- and video-sharing social networking app has grown to become one of the most popular worldwide. An overview of Instagram's development as a social media powerhouse is provided here.Kevin Systrom created the social networking program Instagram, which allows users to share photos and videos, back in 2010.
Motivated by Systrom's passion for premium bourbons and whiskeys, Burbn was the initial web application prototype of Instagram.
The day after its October 6, 2010 launch, 25,000 people had downloaded the Instagram app.
Featured photos—that is, photos taken using mobile devices—were the app's main priority right away.
Following Krieger's arrival, the two reevaluated Burbn and chose to concentrate mostly on one area: photos, particularly those shot using mobile devices. They looked closely at the top apps available at the time for photography. The Hipstamatic app caught Krieger and Systrom's attention due of its widespread use and intriguing features, like the ability to add effects to photos. But it didn't have social media sharing features; Systrom and Krieger thought there was a chance to create an app that connected Hipstamatic to a Facebook-like social media site.
Burbn was reduced to just its photo, commenting, and "liking" features, which was a step backward. They combined the terms instant and telegram to rename their program Instagram at that point. The number of users on the app had increased to almost 27 million by March 2012. 
TechCrunch. "Instagram Reaches 27 Million Registered Users and Says Its Android App is Nearly Here." 
When Instagram for Android phones was introduced in April 2012, it was downloaded over a million times in a single day. 
At that point, the business was also on the verge of securing a $500 million round of new capital. 
Through Stanford gatherings, Systrom and Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg had been acquainted, and the two had been in contact during the start of Instagram's explosive growth in popularity. 
Facebook (now Meta) made a bid to buy Instagram in April 2012 for roughly $1 billion in stock and cash.Although Instagram has a variety of features, most basically, the app's interface allows individuals who have created a free account to upload media–both photos and videos. Additionally, Instagram users now have more editing options: they can record and edit videos, add filters and captions, and mix various images and sounds without ever leaving the app.