Billion dollar question for social network

Four theories on why Facebook spent $1bn on Instagram:

1. Facebook immobilised its greatest threat

Facebook’s biggest competitors aren’t fellow tech titans Google and Twitter, says Nicholas Carlson at the website Business Insider. Facebook’s main attraction is allowing users to share photos, but the social network is “not the easiest way to share photos of your friends and family over your phone”. Instagram was killing Facebook in that respect, and Facebook couldn’t let that “insurgency” fester.