Instagram is one of a group of smartphone applications that have tapped into young people's artistic, image-based online lives. You've probably heard a casual mention of it, whether from your students, your child, or the media.             Therefore it's time for you to brush up on the app and its purpose. Instagram is a social networking programme that lets users post images and videos with their contacts at its most basic level. The app, which is freely downloadable from the standard app shops, is a popular choice for young people's (and older people's!) smartphones.

   Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, two Stanford University graduates who created the business, have over 200 million members now. The social media behemoth Facebook bought the business in 2012. The appeal of the website stems from its picture-editing features, despite the fact that its fundamental basis is the sharing of photographs. As a user takes a picture, one of the several Instagram filters, which are available, can alter the image in a way that makes it look like an old-fashioned Polaroid print. Users of the app can create personal profiles and connect them to pre-existing social networking accounts on sites like Facebook and Twitter so they can share images across platforms.