It’s joined iPhones and Twitter accounts as must-have fixtures for a beauty editor, and now Facebook has announced its purchase of photo-sharing mobile application Instagram.
The purchase of Instagram for approximately $US1 billion will be the social network’s largest acquisition to date, according to RT.
"I’m excited to share the news that we’ve agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook," says Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Zuckerberg also revealed that Instagram would be built and grow independently from Facebook.
We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, the ability to not share your Instagrams on Facebook if you want, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook,'' says Zuckerberg.
The transaction between Facebook and Instagram is likely to close late June.
