Five years on: Untangling Instagram's growing web of influence

Instagram's fifth birthday party had a guest list stretching to 400 million. That's how many monthly active users the photo-sharing app now has and almost half of

them are under 25. In the triumvirate of social media (along with Facebook and Twitter), it's definitely the cool one.

Much of the platform's appeal lies in it simplicity, hence developers have changed very little since its inception. But with the introduction of sponsored posts it feel like Instagram is at something of a crossroads. Will it lose its idiosyncratic creative spirit or simply push on to the next level with a whole host of new features?

Only time will tell, but let's get serious for a minute and forget the filtering fun and unobtainable constructed reality, and examine how Instagram really is changing the world.