[sp332]

It removes all the fine features from the funnel, most of the color and contrast information, and shrinks the resolution. It made this photo worse in every way.

[thisisblurry]

To be fair, that image wouldn't exist (nor would we be having this discussion) otherwise as it wouldn't have been published to Instagram. I can't comment in regards to the photographer's filter preference though...

[sp332]

Maybe the resolution would have been the same. But it's possible to upload a photo in Instagram without stopping to apply a filter, isn't it?

[thisisblurry]

Nope, you can go sans filter. It's actually the first option - you have to scroll past it to get to the modifying filters. You can see it in step 2 here: http://help.instagram.com/customer/portal/articles/168150-ta...