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@our_new_app
- Our new app will be an open community, welcoming anyone who loves taking pictures on their phone. The app will be an easy to browse collection of Instagram image galleries, contests, reviews, tips, user bios, news and discussions.

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- We love Instagram too. That's what this app is all about . . . bringing back the Instagram many of us remember from "the good old days" of a year ago. :) It's very important to understand that our new app does not replace the Instagram community. To the contrary, if it's the pictures that you love, this new app will improve your Instagram experience. Let's cut to the chase. When you're in our app, we promise that you will never run into a teen idol's headshot, reposted from google. Enough said?

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- I. We admit it. We REALLY love mobile photography. Sure we're a little over the top, but we wouldn't have it any other way. - II. In our experience, living creatively energizes us and is wonderfully fulfilling. Certainly nothing is more personal than what you decide to create. We've found we love to create pictures. - III. We believe that creativity comes from curiosity, not the size of our lens. We love our gadgets. But, over time, we've come to realize that the quality of our picture has little to do with the cost of our camera. - IV. Similarly we have come to understand that we don't have to travel great distances to find great pictures. We have found surprising beauty scattered through out our everyday lives. - V. Maybe most critically, we've found that taking pictures just isn't as much fun if we're the only one who gets to see them. We have found that we need community to really be creative. - VI. Finally, when you're having such a great time, its hard not to share. We think the world deserves to see your pictures. You deserve a creative life. Join us. Pull out your phone. See what you've been missing.

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- We can't tell you the name yet because we haven't bought the URL. Stay tuned for the big reveal. - I am finalizing a contract with the team that created the Instafocus app. Download it if you are interested in seeing the basic design principles we will use to develop the app. The app will have an elegant simplicity. No pointless bells or whistles. You won't find any riveted, brushed aluminum, frames in our app. We have one simple and primary design theme. It's all about your pictures.

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- It's simple and everyone is invited. Just download the app and sign in with your Instagram user name. The app is free and always will be.

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@our_new_app
- Here's the neat thing about our community. Your level of participation totally is up to you. - I. Just want to browse? Simply click through our image galleries. If you're interested you can also explore pages of photographer bios, activities, tips, app reviews, news and discussion topics. You'll see what we think are the best posts on Instagram right now. You'll see a diversity of styles and ideas because the app is curated by hundreds of dedicated editors. - As you browse you will have access to Instagram's full functionality. You can like and comment on posts. You can even go deeper and explore a user's entire photo stream and follow them if you choose. - II. Maybe you're not satisfied with just looking. Maybe you want to submit an image, tip, discussion, bio, contest or review for consideration for a feature? Go ahead. We'd love to check out you post. You can easily submit any of your Instagram posts right from the app. - III. Are you really an Instagram fanatic? Do you want to be a part of the team that will make our community so vital? Do you think you have great taste when it comes to photography? Or maybe you have a gift for writing tips or creating posts that start discussions. You might want to apply to be an editor or a contributor.

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@our_new_app
- This is a general idea of the apps layout. - - GALLERIES - *Main Gallery *Sub Galleries - - PAGES - *Contests *Discussions *News, Reviews, and Tips *User Bios and Features *Me *About us - (The "About Us" page includes a Q&A and a listing of the ***** community team members. Each team member's listing will include their bio, a link to their IG account and a gallery of all the posts they have featured.) - (Galleries are a collection of thumbnails. Everything else is considered a page. Pages are a collection of full size images.)

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@our_new_app
- You can either view all the images featured in the community through the main gallery or if you're interested in a specific type of image you can browse our sub galleries. This list will obviously be updated and revised from time to time. - *BW *People *Landscape *Silhouette *Street Photography *Urban Landscape *Self Portraits *Abstract *Topic of the week *Color Sub Sub Galleries - -Red - -Blue - -Yellow - -Green - -Orange - -White - -Purple - -Pink

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This is one of the coolest parts of our community. We don't care who you know or how many followers you have. It's all about your picture. Anyone's post is eligible for a feature in our community. A post gets featured in one of two ways. Either it is selected from a folder of submitted posts by an editor or it is a post published by a contributor from their personal Instagram account.

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- Honestly, I don't think so. If you want to be an editor you'll need more than a great eye. You'll need to show that you are genuinely interested in the Instagram community. Editors will not be selecting images from their friends photo streams. When they log in to their admin accounts they will be combing through hundreds of images, submitted by the entire community. - That said, every one is partial to a certain style. I'd expect an editor to choose the same photographer more than once. If however, I visit an editors listing and their gallery of featured posts is full of images from only three or four of their friends, we'll have a talk. If it continues, their admin account will be disabled.

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- Actually, the concept is a lot simpler than you would think. We expect thousands of images will be submitted a day for consideration. As a reference point, the #jj tag has received over 9 million submissions in just a few months. - Once an editor applies and is accepted, they will be assigned one or more galleries or pages and they will have access to the fire hose of submitted images. Periodically they will comb through as many as they have time for. - Every so often they will be able to make someone's day. When the editor logs in to their admin account and finds an image or information post they love, they will simply select it for a feature. The app will then automatically publish the image to the appropriate gallery and leave a comment from that editors personal account, congratulating the featured photographer. - Featured images will be "taken off the stack" so to speak so that other editors do not mistakenly feature them again. - This is not meant to be a process with surgical precision. Editors will not have assignments or quotas. Is it possible that, on occasion, an unusual number of posts are submitted and some posts are not viewed by any of the app's editors? Sure. Is it possible that, from time to time, an editor may log into their account to edit the blue gallery and find no images they feel comfortable featuring. Sure. I doubt it will be much of a problem though. It may take a little time but eventually we'll get a feel for the ratio. We will know just how many editors we need to view almost every image. - And I think we will find that reviewing "almost every image" is good enough. I don't think, as a community, we feel entitled to a feature. We just want to know that we have as much a chance as the next photographer who submits. It's important to us that our image is judged on merit, not on our follower count or who we know.

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@our_new_app
- Submitting your post for review is super simple. Say you are looking through our "Blue" gallery and you remember a couple posts you made that would be great additions to our collection. Just press the "+" button on the top right corner of the gallery and you'll be taken right to a thumbnail grid of all your images. Scroll and tap on your perfect blue flower shot and that super cool old blue VW Beatle. Confirm that you want to submit those two posts for our editors to review and your done. It's that easy! - If your image is featured in the blue gallery, you'll get an automated comment on your post in Instagram from the editor who featured your shot. Something like, "Hi. This is @joshjohnson. I'm an editor for the @***** app community. We got your submission and loved your post. You've been featured in the blue gallery. Congratulations!"

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- Sure! :) Are you a wannabe hacker? Want to know how we're pulling this off? Keep reading. Can't be bothered with nerdy details? Skip this part. - It's all about the hash tags. When you selected the blue flower and that VW Beatle, the app automatically did the work of tagging your shots to our hashtag folder of submissions for this gallery. The next time you look at those posts, you'll notice a mysterious comment from you that says something like "Cool! I just submitted this post to the ***** app's editors. Fingers crossed! #*****_app_blue " - Yes. . . If you want, you can opt out of the little message. Flip a switch in your account's settings and the app will only paste the the appropriate tag in the comments of the post you are submitting to the editors for review. - Here's some of the tricks we're using to bring you galleries of what we think are the bests posts on Instagram. Remember this is pretty complicated, nerdy stuff. You don't have to understand it to enjoy our community. As a matter of fact. Unless your really interested you can skip this part. (continued on the next comment)

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@our_new_app
- Discussions, contests and challenges are one of the best ways to meet new friends on Instagram. Our contest page editors will review any post describing a new challenge. If you want your contest considered, just submit your post to the #*****_app_contests hash tag. - The contest page editors will select the best new challenges on Instagram and feature them on our easy to navigate contests page. - See a contest that you want to be a part of? The app will allow you to easily find and select appropriate images from your Instagram account to submit. Just tap on that perfect images and the app will apply the contest's hashtag to your selected images automatically.

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- We get it. This is important. We are photographers too. Your image rights are yours and they always will be. - Here's a little side track and a quick look behind the scenes. This idea has not been fully flushed out yet and probably will certainly not make the first version of the app. - In the future, we'd like to help you make some money off your pictures. When you first log into the app you will be able opt in to our marketplace. By opting in you are saying that the images you include for review are also available for licensing. We will create an efficient discovery tool for wire services, stock agencies, maybe even private parties interested in prints. For a minimal percentage or a small flat fee to the community, the interested party will be put in touch with you. Eventually, as a community, we may even further develop the idea and become an independenagency. - Think Instagram images are not considered professional or are too low in resolution to be marketable? We disagree. - Actually, pulitzer prize winning photojournalists, on the cutting edge of tech, are already excited about the possibilities of mobile photography and have published mobile images in publications as prestigious as the New York Times. (continued in the next comment)

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@our_new_app
-Community team members volunteer to be editors because we are excited about the Instagram community, but we think something is missing. We are taking matters into our own hands and creating the anti-popular page. Maybe you know what we're talking about? We think you deserve to be recognized for creating a great image, not for puckering up in front of your bathroom mirror. No offense. Just our opinion. - All the community's team members are acknowledged in the "Team Directory" tab of the "About Us" page of the app. Each listing will include the team members avatar, bio, a link to their personal IG account and a thumbnail gallery of all the submitted images they have selected for a feature. - *Administrator- Can choose editors and contributors - *Editor- Can feature anyone's posts - *Contributor- Can feature their own posts

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- Stay tuned because we're still working on this part but, one way or another, you will need to apply. If you want to be an editor you will need to comb the #*****_app hashtags and show us images or information posts you feel are worthy of a feature. If you want to be a contributing photographer, you'll need to show us which of your images you would publish to the galleries. If you are a writer, give us an idea of the tips, news or discussion points you would publish. If you are an activity organizer, you will show us what creative ideas we can expect in your contests.

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- Here are my thoughts. I think we need to be where the people are. You can't develop much of community passing out flyers in the middle of the desert. Besides i feel Instagram has been good to us and it doesn't feel right to leave. - I think that Instagram and Facebook will be supportive of our community. Our app adds functionality and value to Instagram. That's why they released an API. They planned on projects like this. They know they won't lose us since Instagram will always be the only place you can upload your photos from. - That said, I am definitely going to be emailing @kevin and @mikeyk throughout this process. I want them to be happy with what we're doing. If they have any concerns we certainly want to know about them now rather than later.

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- Development costs will be raised through a Kickstarter.com campaign. At these very early stages of development we estimate the cost of the app to be between $100,000 and $150,000 if we release on all three platforms simultaneously, iPhone, iPad and Android. - The Kickstarter.com campaign will involve a community mural project similar to the contest we recently completed for the new ALT hotel in Toronto. The suggested donation will be $1 for every image submitted to the contest or participants can donate $10, submit as many images as they wish and receive a poster of the final mural. These are only suggested donations. We welcome everyone's participation no matter how much or how little they are able to contribute. - We will welcome any companies who would like to sponsor our mural project. If we are not able to find a backer before the project is completed we will auction off the rights to the mural to the highest bidder. - Funds raised during the Kickstarter campaign will be used first to develop the app, second to create a fund that will cover the operating expenses of the community till it is self sufficient with sponsorship fees, and finally to fund as many $10,000 photo essay grants as possible. - (continued in the next comment)

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@our_new_app
- Ask yourself this question. When was the last time you sat through a TV ad or clicked on an irrelevant listing on a website's sidebar? - Companies are learning that we are no longer a captive audience. The rules have changed. Either tell us about something we are interested in or let us know that you are interested in us. Convince us that you share our values and your foot is in the door. I think from here on out, smart companies will even take it one step farther. Help with our goals and we will welcome you into our community and get out our wallets. - Not convinced? I can prove it. We have only hosted one sponsored event so far in the #jj community. ALT Hotels in Toronto asked us to make a piece of art for their lobby. Over 80,000 images were submitted during a two week event we called #altexpo. The ALT team created an amazing, floor to ceiling, 3d interactive mural out of thousands of our images. To say thanks, they gave away 15 hotel stays to some of the photographers who participated. Don't tell them, but we would have gladly done it without the giveaways. They spent a lot of money helping us get our images out of cyber space and into the real world. - Let me ask you another question. If your image was one of the thousands displayed in the lobby of the ALT hotel. . . would you be an ALT fan? I bet I can guess where you'd stay the next time you visit Toronto. I've heard from quite a few people who are planning trips just to visit the mural. - Remember, this event was our first try. The opportunities for collaborative marketing are limitless. I think it's a new era whose time has come. I have no doubt, smart companies will realize the potential of this new paradigm and will gladly sponsor our community.

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It all depends on how bad you want this project to happen. At these very early stages, we estimate that an iPhone, iPad and Android app will cost between $100,000 and $150,000. We'll start with the iPhone and iPad first. If the Kickstarter campaign is successful, I would like to include Android and release all three platforms simultaneously.

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- Not really. Mostly because it's not really my app. You are funding it. You will be editing it and contributing your images. Your ideas are helping me develop it. This projects success is important to a lot of us. - I believe this app could help literally millions of people realize that adding a little creativity in their everyday life is . . . well . . . a heck of a lot of fun. Call me hokey, but I know for a fact that for some people, myself included, Instagram has been a game changer. - We want to spread the word. That's why I want us to make this app. It's about community. Every year, half of the communities profits, from sponsorships, will be invested back into its members for projects like photo essay grants. We will also fund grants with all the funds that remain, after development costs, from the Kickstarter campaign. - Most of the time, developers will try and keep an apps features a secret till it's released. I think our situation is different. You deserve a say in how the app gets developed. - Will someone else try and take these ideas and run with them? Maybe. I honestly don't think it matters though. What if, for example, someone who is in it for the money and is not willing to give profits back to the community, beats us to the punch with our ideas. I have a feeling they will not get your support. You might even be a little pissed. - If I'm wrong, if these ideas are not what our community really needs right now, I'll try again or gladly support someone who gets it right.

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I'm looking for talented people, who are as excited about the Instagram community and mobile photography as I am. - Of course everyone will have a chance to apply to be an editor or contributor soon. But what if you can't wait and you want to help build our new community from the ground up? If you think what we are doing is important and you have a skill we could use please email me. jj at instatips dot com.

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- A few people have brought up a great question. "Nightly forums were one thing Josh. This just might take off and be a different ball game all together. Will you be able to get the job done by yourself?" - Nope. If our community grows the way I expect, I'm sure I won't be managing it alone. When I decided to do something I loved and I left the business world, I was sure I had made a big mistake investing in an administration degree. Maybe I was wrong. You never know how things work out, do you? :)

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That's pretty much it. We're so glad you are interested in our app. We hope you'll find it's not just a place to see pretty pictures. We're a community. - We want you enjoy our images and we can't wait to see yours. We want you to have fun. We want you to be inspired. But most of all, we want you to feel at home.