We started Glass to bring some humanity back to technology by getting it out of the way. With the launch of the Glass Explorer Edition, we've seen incredible power through the point-of-view camera, which allows you to experience the world from another person's perspective. We wanted to showcase this unique style of photography, which combines meaningful human experiences with hands-free techniques.
We started our Instagram account in late 2013 with two goals: to foster relationships with our fans and customers on Instagram's network, and to illustrate the visual aspects of our brand. Occasionally we share street-style fashion photography of followers wearing Glass, but the majority of our content is dedicated to showcasing what makes Glass visually unique: the ability to capture beautiful moments without taking you out of them. Glass's hands-free approach allows our audience to relive not just the extraordinary but also the familiar moments in a way that's never been possible before.
Beginning in 2014, we have focused on a crowd-sourced content strategy, helping us to forge close relationships with our community of followers, and bringing diverse photography together in one feed. This strategy has been positively received by our audience. We have organically grown to more than 65,000 followers (no contests, promotions, or advertisements), and average roughly 2000 "likes" per post.
The Numbers:
- #throughglass hashtag: 22k+ Instagram posts
- #googleglass hashtag: 61k+ Instagram posts
- 65,000+ followers (all organic, no promotions, no contests)
- On average 1800-2300 likes per photo posted by Google Glass
The Shout-outs:
"7 Tech Companies You Should be Following on Instagram"
"12 Best Instagram Videos April 2014"
The Posts:
With the launch of the Glass Explorer Edition in April 2013, we introduced the #throughglass campaign on Twitter and Google+ to create a space where budding Glass photographers could feel empowered to share their unique experiences. Since then, #throughglass has come to represent Glass's unique style of hands-free photography, so when we launched our official Instagram presence, we were excited to see #throughglass spread and build organically on Instagram as well.
To date the #throughglass hashtag has been used on more than 22k Instagram photos and #googleglass on more than 61k—it's here where our team finds diverse and inspiring content to feature every day. Crowd-sourcing our content allows us to recognize our fans and followers with a day of fame, fostering pride and deep relationships, and we've noticed an increase in #throughglass photos as fans attempt to have their content noticed and featured in our stream. We can also post varied content that reflects the manifold experiences of Glass photographers around the country and world, whether it's a traveler raising his glass to the leaning tower of Pisa or a parent capturing a special moment with her daughter—content that would be difficult, costly, or impossible for us to produce ourselves.
