By: Ronald King

If you’re not familiar with Instagram, shame on you. To inform the unaware, here’s a tidbit of background—-Instagram is a photo sharing mobile application that allows users to digitally filter photos and share with other social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. 

Instagram allows users to dabble with the right, creative side of the brain and produce the art he or she may not have thought was possible.

One can simply take a subpar photo of a soda can on an office desk, play with a couple of filters and voilà, your followers go gaga over it.

 (mcramer7)

Since the introduction of Instagram in October 2010, this application has evolved to become a personal brand building agent. On that note, there is so much potential for brands with creating an account on Instagram, one mainly being that it provides an in-depth understanding of the brand image (no pun intended). After all, a picture is worth a thousand words

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By Tyler Becker

Imagine this. You wake up, take the train, get to work, turn on your computer, and the measly four hours of sleep from last night immediately hits you. You go to Starbucks for your caffeine-fix and energy boost. You babble out your order, notice the barista butcher the spelling of your name, and reach for your wallet. It’s back at your desk in the office. Instantly, you reach for your smartphone, go to your “Starbucks Mobile Card” app, check the balance, and with an on-the-spot swipe of your phone, you’re good to go.

Fast-forward five hours and it’s time for lunch. Instead of wandering aimlessly outside, you open up your LivingSocial app, find an “instant deal” nearby, and pay directly from the phone with the saved credit card information from your account. You arrive at the restaurant, read off the confirmation number to the cashier, and once again you’re on your way.

Now it’s dinner, and you open up Foursquare. You skim through some reviews of local restaurants and even notice a recommendation from one of your friends. You get there and happily receive 10% off your meal for your inaugural check-in. You go to log into your Google Wallet account, and simply pay by holding up the phone to a receiver device at the cashier.

Welcome to 2011.

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