Photo taken using Instagram. Photo by Brent Ozar and courtesy of Creative Commons

Instagram’s photo-sharing software allows mobile device users to apply filters to images and share them with friends.

According to the Associated Press:

Facebook says it will keep Instagram running independently. Users will still be able to run it on rival social networks such as Twitter. That's a departure from Facebook's tendency to buy small startups and integrate the technology - or shut it down altogether.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerburg had this to say in a post on his own page:

This is an important milestone for Facebook because it's the first time we've ever acquired a product and company with so many users. We don't plan on doing many more of these, if any at all. But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together

Facebook is planning to use Instagram’s successes to help inform how other products will evolve in the future and the company intends to continue to support Instagram as well.