Instagram for Android Arrives, But Missing Sina Weibo Support

The massively popular Instagram app has just arrived on Android – but, oddly, it is missing the support for Sina Weibo, China’s hottest microblog service, that was added to its iOS version last month.

It’s a surprising omission, but surely Instagram for Android will implement Weibo sharing in due course. And, yes, I did check for the feature’s presence using the same convoluted method that’s required in its iOS app. That involves changing your phone’s interface to its (traditional or simplified) Chinese localization, and then going back into Instagram’s settings. Doing so on my Android phone showed that the Instagram app does have a Chinese text interface, but the Sina Weibo sync option was definitely missing:

This leads me to wonder why such a ludicrous method of adding one sharing service is needed at all. Do we live in such an absolutist world where only people whose phones are in Chinese will want to use Sina Weibo (or for Japanese and Mixi)? Sure, the language change only needs to be made once on your phone so as to set up the Weibo/Mixi sync, and then you can revert back to any language you wish to use with your smartphone – but the whole implementation is a chore that’s out of touch with people in the 21st-century.

Remember that Sina Weibo has lots of users in Hong Kong, and amongst Chinese-Americans and overseas Chinese in general. A good many of those might well be running English or other languages on their iPhones and Androids, and might not realise how on earth to add Weibo sync to Instagram if it doesn’t appear immediately. After all, it’s such a ridiculous way to do it, common sense dictates that it wouldn’t be made such a hassle. Geo-restricting is one of the worst things about the web, and is a huge disservice to one’s users; just give them all the options right there, clear as daylight.

So, it’ll be good to see Sina Weibo pop up in the settings of Instagram for Android – preferably regardless of what language us global citizens are using for our phone interface.

Grab Instagram for Android from the Play Store.