Part One of a Three Part SXSW Conference Recap
Happy Friday babes! Man, is it just me or has this month been a whirlwind so far. One day I will 100% figure out what day of the week it is, but until then we’re winging it. I had the opportunity to attend SXSW for two days this year, and what an experience it was! This is part one of a three part series I am doing on SXSW.
My first session started with a bang! I had the opportunity to attend the keynote with Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. They spoke about the origins of Instagram and their relationship with Facebook. Despite the awkward moderator, Josh Constine I really enjoyed learning more about the guys behind an app I use religiously.
Some of the hot topics they discussed, was the autonomy within Facebook after the acquisition, Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s proposal to break up big tech and early experiences being a small team heading a big product. There were some hilarious stories about fixing code over dinner and on camping trips after a few drinks. The biggest takeaway from their whole keynote, was that they did not set out to change photography. Instead they recognized a future problem and set out to fix the issue.
Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger talked a lot about two paths that presented themselves when Instagram grew, especially in regards to the influencer world. They believe that there are two ways people interact on the app:
- I’m an influencer and everything I share is refined/cultivated.
- I’m very selective with what I share and who I share with.
Sometimes we forget, or have become so numb to the idea that this app opens us up to billions of accounts and individuals. It was really interesting listening to Kevin and Mike talk about how they never wanted Instagram to become a place where people where people were promoting their brands, or building sole businesses.
Authenticity is a buzz word that is thrown around daily. I was not surprised that one of the top questions was, “How can you be authentic on an app that feels less and less authentic?” Mike Krieger said it perfectly: “Authenticity goes hand and hand with comfort. Find where you’re comfort level is with sharing and be authentic there.”
Something I found really interesting was that, Instagram was always worried about the trend around beautifying filters. They were hesitant to add any filters when it came to Instagram stories. Mike and Kevin both said that they wanted Instagram stories to be a space where you could share more comfortably, a place to be casual. Instead, when Influencer marketing took off, they had to seriously consider if and how Instagram should be regulating this new territory. At the end of the day asking themselves: “What problem are we solving” in every decision they made.
“Instagram serves its community, not me and Mike” – Kevin Systrom when asked why they sold Instagram to Facebook.
They did not go into any details when it came to the Instagram algorithm, or why certain features were rolled out. But something they did discuss, was how to successfully build a business that will last for 50 years and not 5 years. Their biggest piece of advice was to not stand in the way of your own product. And to not let yourself believe that your success is due to 100% of everything you did.
“Your success is a result of the 25% of things you did right. Your future success depends on you removing the 75% of stuff that did not work. The trick is figuring out what exactly that 75% is.”
As for what’s next for the college buddies, “we’re giving ourselves the time to get curious about things again,” Krieger says. They’re still exploring so there was no big reveal about their follow-up venture. But Systrom says they built Instagram by finding the mega-trend of cameras on phones and asking what they’d want to use, “and the question is, what’s the next wave?” I highly suggest taking some time and listening to the recorded keynote!
XOXO
Emily