Instagram has become one of the web's most popular platforms for photo and video sharing. To help users integrate the social network even further into their daily lives, it has released a public application programming interface (API).
For those who have never heard the term before, an API is a seamless software-to-software interface, meaning there is no user involvement during the passing of information. For example, when you enter credit card information to make an online purchase, the website sends your credit card information through an API to another application, which confirms that the provided information is correct.
By using Instagram's public API, users â€" tech-savvy or otherwise â€" have a number of options on how to best implement the code. For some ideas on how to begin, here are eight basic ways to use the API for your own online presence.
1. Search Tags
The ability to search through and pull images from specific hashtags is one of the most basic functions of the Instagram API. Many apps and services that use Instagram API, some of which will be discussed further down the list, rely heavily on this operation.
Searching tags and having them update in real time on a website can be useful for many things, including marketing campaigns. Musician Moby used the API for a fan project about towns after dark, in which every picture with the tag #destroyed showed up on an interactive map.
Here's a quick tutorial on how to pull tags from the API.
2. Incorporate Photos on Websites
The most obvious use of the API is to post Instagram photos or a photostream on a personal or business website. The photos can come from a specific Instagram account, or from tags created by other users. With this function, users can create a gallery of images or have the photostream automatically update as new pictures are added.
There are many websites that pull users' photostreams so they can be viewed in their entireties online, such as Followgram. If you want to try programming it yourself, check out this tutorial.
3. View Photos from Specific Locations in Real Time
Image: Flickr, See-ming Lee
Have you ever wondered what kinds of pictures Seattle residents are posting? Want to see what London-based users are uploading to Instagram? Curious to see photos and video from a Japanese summer festival?
By using Instagram's API to search for geotags, users can see updates from around the world in real time. This function comes in handy when you want to see trends in different countries, watch big events happening across the globe or simply to admire the beauty of a different landscape.
Here's a how-to guide to get you started.
4. View Popular and Trending Photos
Another useful feature allows users to pull the most popular or trending photos from Instagram. This works well for companies that want to see if any products are particularly popular among Instagram users. It is also a valuable tool for data analysis, to see what types of photos do well or which users are especially popular. Of course, people can also use this feature to view the most popular posts of the day.
If you want to showcase Instagram's most popular photos of the day on your site, here's an easy method you can use.
5. Print Photos from Events and Tags Instantly
If you have a fondness for old instant film cameras, Instagram's API can help. Through the API, it's possible to print any photo you upload to your feed instantly from your smartphone. All a user has to do is set the API to print pictures taken with a specific hashtag or from their feed.
For example, if you want to make a printed collage of the beautiful sunrises you capture, you would set the API to search for the tag #beautifulsunrises in your own stream and then set it to print those images once you add them.
If this sounds too intense programming-wise, you can use services such as Instaprint .
6. Make Custom Items
Image: Flickr, Matt Townsley
Thanks to the API, it is now possible to put your favorite shots on phone cases, mugs, postcards and more. Since the API allows you to pull entire photo feeds, users can take the images to make any number of custom-decorated items in their own home, or order them from specialized companies.
If you'd like to purchase an iPhone case like the one shown above, you can get one at Casetagram. Other customizable items are available from select services.
7. Market Venues, Events and Businesses
Using the Instagram API to pull photos with hashtags and geotags has proven to be a lucrative tool for local businesses and venues. By pulling pictures from specific brand or tags, business owners can see how their products are being used and whether they're popular. Venue owners can also find photos that show customers enjoying events at their locales.
Instagram's API has even been used as a marketing tool to sell products. Brisk, a beverage company, asked its customers to tag photos with #brisk and selected their favorites to put on limited edition cans.
There are services which also pull photos for information on products and events. Now is an app that pulls information from Instagram photo as well as other sources to show upcoming events and hot-spots. Venueseen works with brands and companies to help with their Instagram presence.
8. Create Event Live Feeds
Most social networks are conducive to live feeding an event â€" in fact, it's one of the major functions of Twitter. With the Instagram API, event organizers can pull photos with event-specific tags and display them onscreen in real time. The Black Eyed Peas used it during a concert in Manhattan's Central Park to showcase fan photos taken during the performance.
If you are planning an event and want an Instagram live feed, but you want to avoid the hassle of coding, you can use Eventstagram or any number of other online services.
Do you know of additional unique ways to implement Instagram's API? Know of any cool apps that use the API to do amazing things? Leave suggestions or recommendations in the comments below.
Image: Flickr, Luca Sartoni
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