The Instagram event didn’t feel very Facebook. On a San Francisco street dotted with homeless encampments, press and the quasi celebrities known as influencers entered a former music venue through an archway made of balloons. Attendees received raspberry-cream-filled cruffins – croissants shaped like muffins – along with espresso drinks and multiple kinds of green juice. Enclaves in the space were designed specifically for selfie-taking, to encourage the influencers to hype the coming product announcement to their digital followers.

But the event was beset by technical difficulties. Someone misplaced the file for chief executive Kevin Systrom’s presentation, so it had to be remade in a scramble while guests waited. During the delay, the corporate blog post announcing Instagram TV, a new standalone video app, went up as scheduled, ruining the surprise before Systrom arrived onstage. An hour after the event ended, his iPhone flashed. It was Chris Cox, the executive whom Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had recently put in charge of all his company’s apps.

Bloomberg Businessweek