Instagram May Soon Become True Web Experience

Instagram may soon be its own online presence, instead of simply a photo-sharing app for Facebook, if rumors are true.

CNet reports that Cole Reinke, web designer, found an interesting link on Instagram’s official website, which suggests Facebook may be testing an expansion to the app it purchased recently.

While usually Instagram’s site can only be used to perform basic functions, like changing your password, editing your profile, and managing apps, Reinke found a “View Profile” link when he logged into his account recently.

When sharing a screenshot of the mysterious button, Reinke wrote:

“Online Instagram profiles coming soon? Clicking on the link lead me to a 404 error at my profile address. When I looked to see if it was still there three hours later, it had disappeared. But before I saw the option appear, Instagram went down for a minute or two.”

According to Tech Crunch, Instagram’s co-founder, Kevin Systrom, has always maintained that the app’s mobile experience is their main focus, and usually deflects questions about a possible official web version. When he was asked about Instagram making a web version after they were acquired by Facebook, Systrom stated:

“We are fully sold on the fact that if we’re going to do big, meaningful stuff we need to take on networks. We believe mobile is that.…You can’t take a desktop experience and shove it into a 3-by-4-in screen. It’s a very different behavior pattern. It’s a very different browse pattern. People interact with their phones very differently than they do with their PCs and I think that when you design from the ground up with mobile in mind, you create a very different product than going the other way.”

Do you think that Instagram is in the process of making a full-blown web version of the picture-sharing service?