Facebook and Instagram: When Your Favorite App Sells Out
Matt Nunogawa stashed this in MiscTech
Stashed in: User Generated Content, Product Inspiration, TROLOLOL, Facebook!, The Web, Zuck!, Teh Internets, Instagram!, Instagram, PHP, @ftrain, One does not simply..., Boy, that escalated quickly., Dr. Evil, Good Guys!, Candy!, Facebook Acquisitions
That article is full of fantastic quotes!
I really liked this one:
[M]uch of the code that runs the site is written in a horrible computer language called PHP, which stands for nothing you care about. Millions of websites are built with PHP, because it works and it's cheap to run, but PHP is a programming language like scrapple is a meat. Imagine eating two pounds of scrapple every day for the rest of your life — that’s what Facebook does, programming-wise.
The comments are good, too, like the one about this image of Zuckerberg that appears in the article:
"Hmm.. looks like that mug of Zuckerberg taken with Instagram. Toaster filter?"
Matt, the Cropping of the Image at the Top is killing me.
I made you a new one:
done!
TROLOLOL, Paul Ford is a genius:
Facebook is like an NYPD police van crashing into an IKEA, forever — a chaotic mess of products designed to burrow into every facet of your life.
I also like the line an Internet product is a thing that lets people make other things.
Other gems:
Instagram was "a kind of metaproduct — and you can get 30 million people working for you, for free, if you do a good job of it."
Instagram is "beloved and hip, two things Facebook is not, and plus the company is pure nerd candy."
"Remember what the iPod was to Apple? That’s how Instagram might look to Facebook: an artfully designed product that does one thing perfectly."
"In order to participate as a citizen of the social web, you must yourself manufacture content."
And yes, Matt, the last sentence is awesome.
Be sure to read the comments, they're hilarious and feature a great overview of Facebook's architecture.
10:40 AM Apr 10 2012