As members of our editorial team noticed today, the Instagram app now notifies you when Facebook and Twitter friends join the service. Foursquare already does the same thing. But this integration could swiftly kick up activity, and by extension user numbers, on the photo sharing service with its estimated 50 million subscriberes. Signs of a Facebook-Instagram alliance started in early January, well before Facebook bought the app-maker, when Instagram started displaying full-size photos on Facebook profiles when both accounts were linked. By comparison, plush and expanded interactive cross-posts was an addition Twitter only just added to its Facebook display.
The Facebook-Instagram relationship is increasingly well watched. It has the attention of the Federal Trade Commission, which wants a closer look at the deal as a routine check performed on acquisitions of over $68.2 million. It was also under scrutiny from the SEC in Facebook's pre-IPO days, and in the weeks since, questions have been raised about Instagram's real value as Facebook's share price slides. Facebook's relationship with Instagram may have been complicated by the puzzling launch of its own Facebook Camera app after the acquisition announcement, but it seems the two are committed to being friends
ComScore Study: Pinterest Still Booming, Android And iOS Nab RIM's Market Share
ComScore's "State of the U.S. Internet" report was previewed yesterday, and TechCrunch got an early look. Here are some highlights from the study.
Pinterest continues to hold the title of fastest growing social network, swelling 4377 percent between May 2011 and May 2012. When it came to driving sales online, Pinterest users are more frequent and more generous in their online spending than members of other social networks, a trend that Shopify also spotted earlier this year.
As mobile user numbers spike, comScore expects mobile race ahead of desktop users by 2014. This would follow a trend in countries like India where, with mobile adoption is surging well ahead of desktop access, mobile users are expected to overtake desktop users by the end of this year.
In the U.S., Android increased its slice of the market from 34.8 percent to 51 percent. Apple also grew, from 25.5 percent to 30.7 percent. RIM, Microsoft and all other OS makers made space for that growth--dropping from 27.1 percent to 12.3 percent, 7.5 percent to 3.9 percent and 5.1 percent to 2.1 percent between March 2011 and 2012.
ComScore's full report is expected out next week. In the meanwhile, for charts showing these and other trends, stop by TechCrunch.
Tablet News Expected At Microsoft's Monday Event
Microsoft is holding an event in Los Angeles on Monday, June 18. Microsoft has made no mention of what the event will be about, but a few outlets have insider tips that a tablet of some kind--a Microsoft-manufactured iPad challenger or a Kindle Fire competitor (remember that deal Microsoft made with Barnes & Noble earlier this year?)--is on the way. It's not just the iPad and Kindle Fire that Microsoft will be joining, as there have also been rumors that an Android-flavored Google tablet made by ASUS will be ready for Google's I/O show in late June.
Microsoft has been testing Windows RT, a version of its Windows 8 OS for ARM processors in tablets. A new tablet will fit well with another other new product, SmartGlass, which Microsoft announced recently at E3, designed to seamlessly connect its computers and gaming platforms with smartphones and tablets.
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