Instagram Is Now So Powerful The CFDA Created An Award For It

The power of Instagram...

Have you heard of Patrick Janelle? Maybe you're one of the 130,000+ people who follow his @AGuyNamedPatrick Instagram account.

Well, he just made history by picking up the first ever CFDA Instagrammer of the Year award and will now be the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s official Instagram correspondent.

As per the rules, Janelle was nominated by fellow CFDA Award nominee Thom Browne. Then, the public voted. A lot. The winning image, which has received over 9,000 likes was oddly mismatched for a fashion award, but undeniably delicious-looking. You can’t beat a classic burger-and-fries ‘#instafood’ shot.

It’s amazing to see how the photo-sharing platform has evolved since Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger launched the app in 2010. In just four years, the network has reached 150 million users.

It's no surprise that Instagram has caught on like wildfire within fashion's domain. In such a visually-led industry, it's the perfect platform to express style, inspiration and, most-importantly, brand awareness.

'Something new is happening that I'm just clueing into now - this probably won't go down well - but customers don't care any more about reviews or hard-copy publications. They care what picture Rihanna just Instagrammed while she's naked in bed, what new shoes she has on, how she's talking about them. That's what they respond to,' said Tom Ford in a recent interview with Style.com

Ford is absolutey right; and the stats back him up.

According to Simply Measured, 8,500 photos are liked per second and 40 million photos are uploaded per day. These numbers are only going to grow as one new user joins Instagram every second, says Media Bistro.

Though it's got quite a way to go to catch up to its parent company, Facebook, in just four years Instagram has certainly shaken the social community. So much so that it now has it's own prestigious award.

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