Is Instagram getting a new messaging service?

Users of popular photo-sharing service Instagram may soon be getting a new messaging service as indicated by an @instagram.com email address, a tech site reported over the weekend.

 

TechCrunch cited a source working in marketing for an e-commerce company as coming across the @instagram.com addresses.

 

“We requested verified email addresses for the followers of a certain fan club on Twitter and received back these results. We use [the data provider] as a tool for gathering information, and suddenly A LOT of the email fields were being filled in with Instagram email addresses,” it quoted the source as saying.

 

Also, TechCrunch quoted its source as saying the @instagram.com addresses appeared as part of a reply to a request she made to a company that compiles data from social networking sites.

 

It said the data provider, which it did not name in its report, uses "a number of different APIs" to populate its database.

 

TechCrunch added the data provider claimed it had never seen these Instagram email addresses before.

 

It said this could mean a messaging service for Instagram is "on the horizon."

 

Facebook pattern

 

TechCrunch also cited the case of social networking giant Facebook, which earlier acquired Instagram, in building its own native messaging service to maintain its users.

 

"(W)hen Facebook unveiled its revamped messaging system in 2010, it included the option for users to create @facebook.com email addresses," it noted.

 

Email on Instagram

 

TechCrunch noted Instagram may have already laid the groundwork for using email on its platform.

 

"You share photos by default to your Instagram stream, but you can additionally send them to specific people via email," it said.

 

It also noted other developers such as Instachat, InstaMessage and InstaDM, which let users send direct messages to Instagram contacts, have shown the potentials of an Instagram messaging service.

 

"Giving users on the Instagram network native email addresses could make the process of sending directly to individuals more seamless and integrated to the bigger platform. It could also be a way for those recipients of your emailed images a way to respond back to you," it added.

 

Holiday launch

 

A separate report on Mashable said a holiday launch would make "perfect sense" for an Instagram messaging product as the holidays are one of the busiest times for photo-sharing.

 

"(G)iven Facebook’s recent moves toward offering Facebook.com email addresses as part of its service, such a change would fall right in line with the company’s strategy to tighten its grip on existing users by offering features that keep them linked to Facebook wherever they go," it said. — TJD, GMA News