Now that they own it, there is no good reason to kill it. The only possible reaction to killing Instagram is ill-will with potential and current FB users, and bad press.

Not only would he be going against his word - while the internal metrics of the company are going strong - but he would be killing an asset and destroying shareholder value.

Even Zuck isn't crazy enough to pay $1B for a growing company and just kill it. That would be totally irrational.

I suspect this may very well be the best tech acquisition since Google bought YouTube.

Good luck for both of them - even though I am wary of FB's growing clout and I don't use Instagram, it's nice to see a good service find a good home that can support it over the long term.

I am SOOOO happy that Google bought YouTube. Can you imagine a world without YouTube?

I sure can't. Not a good world anyway.

I don't think they would outright and blatantly kill it. I think there are lots of scenarios in which Instagram becomes irrelevant due to neglect or intentionally crippling it. Ultimately, Zuck wants to keep people within Facebook's walled garden.

Google's acquisition of YouTube was different, because it was an opportunity for Google to serve more ads. I just don't see a similar opportunity for Facebook in the Instagram acquisition.