Agoura High alumnfinds success with new photo app





INSTANT GRATIFICATION—Nathan Mock demonstrates his new phone app which shares photos placed on Instagram.

INSTANT GRATIFICATION—Nathan Mock demonstrates his new phone app which shares photos placed on Instagram.

Nathan Mock, an Agoura High School alumnus and recent college graduate, created his own job when he launched a mobile phone application called Instago.

The app, which was recently accepted by the Apple App Store, could be the next big thing if Mock has his way.

Mock, who graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in June with a degree in computer science, said his app piggybacks on the popular Instagram and Foursquare apps. Instagram allows mobile phone users to share photos with friends, while Foursquare helps people find things to do and places to go based on their current location.

“My app combines both of them and brings them together so you can view pictures from anywhere,” Mock said. “My app is real-time.”

Mock, 23, provided an example of how Instago might be useful to someone in search of a good time.

“Say you’re a young person and want to see what’s happening at a (club) right now,” he said. “Google has stock photos for promotion, but my app allows you to view (photos) in real time.”

The real-time photos are any pictures that have been shot at the club or event with Instagram, a public app that is used by millions. When someone takes a picture at a club with Instagram that picture becomes available to any Instago user.

Mock said Instago will be a timesaver. Rather than checking out the club scene by driving over and paying admission, Instago users can instantly see images of people already at the club. If the pictures are compelling enough, the cost of gas and admission might be warranted, he said.

“Whoever is posting on Instagram will be pulled into my device. This is kind of exposing what people are doing,” he said. “People don’t understand that things you post to Instagram are public. It’s a privacy issue that people need to be aware of.”

Those who don’t want their Instagram photos to be pulled into Instago have to change their privacy settings.

On Halloween, Mock and his friends tested out his application on the Playboy Mansion.

“We could see everything that was going on,” he said.

He also used the app to find out what was happening at other L.A.- based clubs and in New York’s Times Square.

Mock said his application has been getting good reviews, so good that after he earned his degree he was invited to participate in Accelerator, a program that offers young entrepreneurs the chance to learn from successful business owners and innovators.

Mock has plans to expand the functions of his application. He said that users cannot currently add photos, but he envisions a time when an Instago user will be at an event such as a wedding where everybody can add photos to the same “album.”

“Everybody would have access to the photos at the end of the wedding,” he said.

At this point, Mock said, people can only add photos to a personal album on Facebook. want to promote their business to Instago users. For instance, a club might be able to use the application to promote a special event on a specific day. He said businesses will be featured on a feed, which he described as a type of slide show.

“It’s not an advertisement in the traditional sense of the word,” Mock said. “It’s going to be featured, and (users) are not going to be able to tell it’s an advertisement. Right now it’s free and I plan to keep it that way.”

To download the free mobile app, visit www.instagoapp.com/download.


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