Instagram seems to be getting harder and harder to love.
Back in December, it looked like I was going to stop using Instagram. The issue was over a licence whose language could be interpreted as claiming rights to the photos I took. I had written a script to get the HTML code to embed pictures from instagram into my blog. Over the course of several hours, I rehosted them on Flickr (who supports the Creative Commons licence)), and pointed blog posts to those images. My plan was to stop using it all-together. However, Instagram backed off that langauge, and I kept using that particular tool.
Still, I kept the photos I used for this blog either on WordPress or Flickr, just in case. Instagram is owned by Facebook. Even though I have an account on the latter, I don’t fully trust it,and am prepared to jettison it at a moment’s notice. The primary place I used Instagram photos on the blog was in my monthly hodge podge. Most people who follow this blog may follow me on social media. However, putting photos in the hodge podge allowed for more context to be put around them. Also, my blog is as much about my remembering things as it is about sharing. What makes it here are things I don’t want to risk getting lost in more ephemeral places. Typically, I’d go back at the end of the day, click the “share” button on one of my pictures that was already posted, and add it to Flickr. Piece of cake.
With the latest update, however, this workflow seems to have been impacted. While I can share to Flickr at the initial posting of a photo, the button is not present when I go back to a photo already uploaded. A look at a few forums on the web confirms that I am not the only person to have encountered this behavior.
My first thought was to dust off the script. However, my first pass at trying to use it shows they changed the HTML code, so that it can’t be used. Instagram released an embed feature, but, unlike Flickr, it puts an ugly frame around the picture (and doesn’t really offer controls around the size of the image, etc.). The pictures are saved to the camera roll on my phone, so I can manually upload it to Flickr as a work-around, but it’s not as simple.
My hope is that this reflects a bug in the software rather than a change in policy, and it will be remediated in the next release of the app. However, as Instagram becomes more and more annoying, it makes me want to pick a different tool for my spontaneous photo sharing.
UPDATE: This very afternoon, an update was released, which resolved this issue. So, just a bug. Huzzah!
Mr. Guilt's Blog 
I’ve been pondering the same thing. I am currently testing out a photoshare app/site some photog friends are using called EyeEm.
I’ve been using Flickr since I first got a digital camera in 2007. I’ve had no complaints about the site: it’s easy to use, the photos display well (I had less issues with the new Your Photostream collage and black background than other members, apparently) and I’ve enjoyed connecting with other photographers like you. :) Instagram seems directed at smartphone users. I won’t be upgrading to one soon, though my daughters love sharing photos via Instagram. They don’t use their photos in a blog however, and they have Flickr accounts to back up their photos since the dustup at Instagram.
My son, who has a cycling blog on Blogger.com, uploads his photographs directly from his camera to his blog. He’s even more old school than I am, as well as more privacy-conscious.