Two years after it arrived on the iPhone, Instagram launched a web companion for users of its photo-sharing and filtering app Monday.
The most striking thing about the new web profiles, which are being gradually rolled out to users, is its resemblance to Facebook Timeline. An animated, rotating mosaic of Instagram photos occupies about the same amount of space as Facebook Timeline's Cover photo; a small profile image, short bio and follower stats are situated just beneath. Photo thumbnails are organized in reverse-chronological order further down the page; click on one, and it'll appear at full size alongside likes and comments.
For the first time, users can like and leave comments on photos from the web, and follow new users as well.
Profiles' resemblance to Timeline is not particularly surprising given that Instagram was acquired by Facebook this past September for $715 million. It does suggest that deeper integration between the two networks may come in future iterations.
You can see if your profile is up by typing in instagram.com/username, a la instagram.com/nike (pictured above), or instagram.com/palomaparrot. To check out a sampling of others' profiles, see the gallery below.
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