[metamatt]

Instagram: - tints photos - uploads them - and has 30 million users

I largely buy the gigaom explanation (http://gigaom.com/2012/04/09/here-is-why-did-facebook-bought...). That's why the water-in-desert metaphor is, IMHO, very apt.

[nooneelse]

This explanation makes me daydream about a new social app that convinces FOO million Facebook users to join just on the promise that each user gets a stake in the payout when it gets bought. How impossible is it to get 30 million people on board for an average payout of $30 each? Maybe some game mechanics could help... get more of your friends to join "Let's-eat-FB's-lunch-agram" and you get a larger payout.

[chefsurfing]

I'd pay to read your daydream if it were an ebook.. it sounds like fun.. like Bruce Sterling meets Adam Mansbach.