Why I Backed the Pressgram App on Kickstarter

I decided to back it with $125 because I firmly believe in it.  Not just the app itself and what it could be, but the guy that started it.  Not only am I supporting it, but at that pledge amount, I get to be a part of the beta testing of it as well.  I get to use it, test it, and be a part of the great new community it will build and be there the entire time it grows.  The blogging community that John leads is an amazing one and that is why I trust him so much.  I have learned a ton from him and his blogs over the last few years.  I trust him on this app development and the potential it has.  He has his reasons for making it, and he doesn’t mess around when it comes to getting things done. When he does projects, he does them well. Very well actually.

Why is John making Pressgram?

Head to the Pressgram Kickstarter Page to watch all the rest of his videos about why he wants this app to become a reality and what it will do.

Why is it different from Instagram?

I won’t get too deep into the details of what John had to say about it, but I will tell you some of the great points he makes.

1. You have full and complete ownership of all of your content you share on it. You won’t have to “license” your photos from the app or the company – they are yours forever and you’ll never see them anywhere else except your own profile and blog.
2. It’s going to be integrated with WordPress so you can share right to your blog with proper metadata and SEO.
3. You gain traffic on your website, not on your facebook or instagram web profile.  YOU get views, not the corporations. Higher traffic means more opportunity.
4. When people comment on the app network, just like you would on Instagram, posts are integrated onto your website or blog. This means conversations on your website both via the app and a computer.  It will be a very dynamic social experience that all takes place on YOUR wesbite.
5. Fundamentally its very similar to Instagram, but philosophically it is much bigger.  Not only is it free, but it will be much more powerful because you will be able to combine an “Instagram” type community with WordPress and many other social networks. This is big for artists as well as businesses.
6. You can easily share a filtered photo from the palm of your hand within a mobile community as well as your blog without having to do a ton of work arounds or multiple apps.  It saves you time and keeps your content your content without worrying about app licensing your content along the way.
7. It will create a brand new community of filtered photo lovers that will mostly be WordPress lovers as well.  That means high quality conversations on a social network built by wordpress developers.  That means bugs will be fixed and ideas will happen and be developed.  The app and community will just keep getting better and better and keep on growing.  It has so much potential.

http://instagram.com/p/XA9sjGkYDS/

For me to insert this above image from Instagram, I had to post it to Instagram and then log into WordPress separately, grab the url from Instagram to past into this post.  Time and stress can be saved with Pressgram.

What John wants Pressgram to become.

Here are some quotes that I liked best from the very extensive and descriptive page all about Pressgram over on the Kickstarter page.

You see, we believe that true creative control is not just about act and process of creating but also publication, especially in today’s digital economy.

This is a boon for the artist, the creative, the independent content creator who doesn’t need to worry about digital agreements or where they may end up seeing their own handiwork.

In an over-simplified nutshell, it’s WordPress + iOS (iPhone) + Filtered Photos.

And it’s going to be a 100% free download for everyone to enjoy, as long as I’m able to get this project kickstarted and the app built.

Yes, we’ll create a synchronization between the Pressgram network (in app experience) and your published post so that you can continue the conversation in a much larger context.

Finally, social sharing via Twitter and others will come right out of the box. We’ll have those for you because they are awesome.
Obviously if it’s a free app then it’ll grow faster. If it’s paid it’ll add a bar of adoption that I’m not sure I’m interested in creating. But I’m not throwing advertisements on the app so direct monetization is out.

Why should you support it?

No one likes to see a loading screen on Instagram or any app for that matter, so John is going to need a little help to make sure the app is solid, bug free, and efficient.  I am so in love with everything that John as to say about the development of this app. If you are a content creator and love having complete ownership of your work, you should really support John and his Pressgram project.  Not only would you be supporting the app development, but you are supporting a whole new community as well as the WordPress community.  Many of your favorite websites utilize wordpress to create and share content to teach you amazing things.  Why wouldn’t you support that?  When Facebook bought Instagram, the licensing and ownership of content definitely changed and many people left Instagram and even Facebook because of those things. Pressgram eliminates any of that bull crap. Which is Awesome.  So whether its a small pledge or a big one like mine, support this project in any way you can.  You will not regret it, because once you have it, I can guarantee you will love it.