By now, everyone is familiar with, if not addicted to, Instagram, that plucky little app that launched in 2010, has grown to over 100 million users and was purchased by Facebook for $1 billion.
Sure it is fun to take the photos, add some filters and share them but don’t you wish you could do a little more with the photos? Thankfully, there are now numerous other fun things you can do with your Instagram photos instead of just posting them to Facebook.
Get More Filters
First and foremost, Instagram has some great filters but for some that isn’t enough. If you are an avid shooter, chances are you have used Lo-Fi, Hefe and Inkwell more times than you can count. Give 100 Cameras in 1 a try. Choose from their 100 effects, add overlays and textures and export to Instagram. Now you have the ability to truly make every one of your Instagram photos unique. The app does cost 99¢ but for what you get, its a great value.
Download from the App Store
Keep Updated
Want to stay not only up to the minute, but up to the second with who you follow? Never miss a photo again with Carousel, a handy app that sits on your Mac desktop. View your Feed, Popular and Profile photos with a choice of themes. You can even drag & drop images to save full-size photos to your Mac. Sure, it’s $3.99 but for those truly addicted to Instagram, it is a small price to pay and they offer a 15 day trial to make sure you really like it.
http://carousel.mobelux.com/
Instagram for the Stat Geek
Want to know how many views your photos get or which are the most popular? Statigram is a stat geeks dream for Instagram. You can even set up a monthly email so you get all of your stats once a month. With over 60 metrics, Statigram is a powerful social analytics to monitor your Instagram performance. Check your most liked photos, track your follower growth, and discover the best time to post.
Not only can you view all sorts of stats, but you can even order iPhone cases, magnets, stickers and more of your favorite Instagram photos. This is a great site for both personal and business usage.
Speaking of Printing…
Another option to print from your Instagram photos is Printstram. Are you an avid Instgramer? Try the daily calendar option where you can have 365 unique photos in a daily calendar. They also have options for posters, books, mini prints, framed prints and more.
Let Your Guests be the Photographer
Having an event like a wedding or company party? Hire Instaprint to come to your event and let your guests shoot the event for you to get a personalized view. Instaprint sets up 4 Instaprint printers at your party and then party-goers snap Instagram photos at the event, use a custom hashtag, and the printers look for Instagram images with the right hashtag and location information. It then prints out the images on Zink paper, with the photographer’s icon and name on top of the image and any comments below. Great if you live in New York, but not so awesome if you live anywhere else since they are located in NY.
http://instaprint.me/
Send Them a Postcard
Are you an avid traveler? Do you hem and haw over which postcard to send? My dad travels a lot and is always sending postcards to our family but since he prides himself on his photography skill, he always feels like he could shoot a better postcard. Now with Postagram, he can make his own using photos from his Instagram, Facebook, Photo Library or Dropbox account. Typically, each postcard is 99¢ for the print and postage but for a limited time, they are offering the first three postcards FREE! Postagram is available for both iPhone and Android devices.
http://sincerely.com/
Your Photos as Works of Art
Everyone thinks their photos are works of art, now you can actually make your Instagram photos into works of art for your home or office. CanvasPop will print your photos on canvas and then mount them on a wood frame suitable for hanging. Create a wall mosaic or just a single canvas size to spruce up your walls. Size options are either 12×12 or 20×20. For a limited time, a 12×12 print will cost just $39.95.
CanvasPop
Be Truly Social
In this age where the use of Facebook and Twitter is considered “social”, why not have an actual social experience. Meetup.com allows you to find other Instagram users around you and meet up in person. The gatherings range from casual coffee chats for swapping photo tips, to full-on scavenger hunts, where participants have to take Instagram photos of all the items they find. Currently in MeetUp’s Instagram channel, there are 10k+ members in almost 1500 cities worldwide.
Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!
Most people are familiar with those sites that give you two options and you choose which you like more. Each match get’s voted on by thousands of users and in the end, a champion is crowned. The folks at Instawar bring this battle mentality to Instagram. According the the site “Instawar operates as a tournament-style competition, a photo browser, and a unique image production tool. Photos are randomly paired and you choose the better ones as you browse.” Two photos enter, only one walks away.
InstaWar
Bonus Cats!
Since funny cat videos and photos are synonymous with the internet, no list could be complete without a way to view cat photos on Instagram. Nekostagram and Instakitty give you your cat photo fix in a hurry.
