Apple gets on Instagram and it wants you to be part of it

Apple has finally launched its official Instagram account @apple with a creative bang. It aims to use the account to showcase the myriad of creative pictures the iPhone can take.In fact, Apple's Instagram account feels like an extension of its “Shot on iPhone” billboard marketing campaign as it features content captured by iPhone users. These images are then curated by Apple. The campaign encourages other Instagram users to participate through the hashtag "#ShotoniPhone" and will credit each post back to the Instagram account of its creator.With its short account description "Welcome to @apple. Tag #ShotoniPhone to take part," Apple's official Instagram account has about 247,000 followers, at the time of writing. It currently features a collage of nine video slideshow posts, with eight of them showcasing photographers' work with accompanying audio clip talking about the subject matter.Below is one example of its posts:#ShotoniPhone by… - 1. Maurice H. @bloomandplume “If people like photos of flowers and people like photos of me, why not just put the two together?” - 2. RJ P. @rockadeezy “The landing is the hard part. If I really want to be horizontal I land on all fours. Like a cat. But if the ground’s too hot, or it’s hard terrain I’ll land on my feet.” - 3. Jeryl T. @j9ryl “Just because I’m colorblind doesn’t make photography a guessing game. There’s always a direction I want to go. A mood I want to create.” - 4. Britainy W. @lanadeathray “Owls are kinda like the ninjas of the bird world. Like, that mouse never saw it coming.” - 5. Koci H. @koci “I can walk outside, tap a piece of glass, and suddenly I’ve captured something. With another tap, I can share it with the entire world. If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.”A post shared by apple (@apple) on Aug 7, 2017 at 5:19am PDTInstagram, the primary photo-sharing app for nearly every smartphone user now has about 700 million monthly active users across Apple and Android. The app offers not only a great platform to showcase creativity of its iPhone but a market so big that it's time for Apple to stop ignoring but banking on it.