Microsoft finally gets a real Instagram account
The company says its account on the social photo sharing site is designed for: "Celebrating people who break boundaries, achieve their goals, and #DoMore every day."
Mashable reports that Microsoft hired photographer Justin Bastien to take pictures of Microsoft customers around the world that can be packaged up with little stories of the people. The first: a Skype-using barista in Seattle.
It's not like we can rib Microsoft too much for being late to this game: After all, Network World has only had its account since March, and Instagram has been around since 2010.
And in fact, it's not as if Microsoft has totally ignored Instagram. As we compiled our list of the Best Instagram accounts from enterprise IT companies earlier this year, we came across a couple of Microsoft accounts. One was for Windows Phone, and other for Xbox (interestingly, Instagram only became available on Windows Phones late last year).
Microsoft's timing in setting up its new Instagram account is good in this respect: Instagram just this week added new caption editing and user discovery features. And we're happy to report that the account, which quickly racked up more than 10,000 followers on its first day, has so far avoided the sort of awkward/forced Surface tablet and Windows 8 product placement that Microsoft has become notorious for on TV in recent years.
Network World hasn't hired any fancy photographers to fill our Instagram account -- it's just plain old versatile reporters and editors taking shots from their iPhones, Android phones and yes, even 1 Windows phones. But please follow us on Instagram here, and let us know if there are other enterprise IT companies whose Instagram accounts deserve to be added to our list of the best (we're looking for more than blatant marketing campaigns).