Parody video shows Instagram has arrived

“I’m sitting on the patio.” Twitter was parodied a time or two on its rise to corporate relevance (Image credit: group3solutions.com).

No one likes Nickelback. Ok, maybe one person. A lot of people like Instagram. Combine the two and you have this recent parody video from College Humor that will have anyone who has seen their friends post pictures of food or kids with a bitchin’ background  on Facebook or Twitter LOLing…literally.

Sure, the video is funny. I actually have a friend who regularly posts Instagram photos of the design on the top of her coffee drink. When it comes to drink designs, I prefer the Guinness shamrock. But that’s beside the point.

The greater takeaway for all of us, especially any CMO who will listen, is that Instagram has now officially moved into the corporate social network consideration set. Sure, there are a lot of social networks companies dabble in here and there. But the corporate social network consideration set consists of the six big guns — Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, blogging and now Instagram.

It seems counter-intuitive, right? A video making fun of Instagram moves it into the consideration set for corporate America. Maybe so, but consider the following:

1. You can’t make fun of something people don’t know anything about. It just isn’t funny. The reason the video above is hilarious is because of Instagram’s rapid growth in use and popularity. Otherwise, we’re annoyed that the folks at College Humor made us listen to any more Nickelback than necessary.

2. I remember 2007. People made fun of Facebook left and right. Waste of time. I don’t get it. Why would people share so much information about their personal lives online? Only millenials would do that. Today, a Facebook brand presence is like a website. No self-respecting company can operate without either. Well, no company that hopes to be relevant and make money.

3. I remember 2009. People made fun of Twitter. Corporate executives called it a fad. The Interwebs filled up with 140-character updates about lunch, dessert and snack food. Mobile device companies made commercials staring parents poking fun at the tweets their kids sent — “I’m sitting on the patio.” But then, New Orleans residents used Twitter to communicate their whereabouts post-Katrina. And @jkrums tweeted a picture after his plane crashed into the Hudson River. The rest is history.

So you see, if I’m the founders of Instagram right now, I’m loving this video more than any of the thousands of people sharing it online. Because to be made fun of is to be acknowledged. We kid because we love. And CMOs should be paying close attention to the things their customers love.

The question is, are our corporate executive friends listening? And how long will it take them to get on board? 2014? 2015?