Facebook snapped up Instagram before Twitter could

Jack Dorsey was an Instagram investor who made an absolute killing off the Facebook acquisition. But, if rumors are to be believed, he was less than happy about the acquisition.

That's because Jack Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter, had tried to acquire Instagram months before Facebook made a move.

If it's true, it's not hard to imagine how it came to pass - nobody in Silicon Valley has the kind of muscle and reach Facebook does. Their billion dollar purchase of the photo sharing application has been met with mixed reaction, which has largely centered around the astronomical purchase price.

It is unlikely that Dorsey would have matched that figure, though his early involvement in Instagram could have made the acquisition a personal matter.

According to The New York Times:

His company, according to several people briefed on the matter, had expressed interest in buying Instagram in recent months. Mr. Dorsey once used Instagram daily to send photos to Twitter, but he has not been back since the deal was announced, perhaps a sign that he is not happy to see it in the hands of a competitor.

Shopping sprees

Twitter recently purchased the Tumblr rival Posterous. The purchase of a dedicated blogging site may have signaled a change or progression from Twitter's infamously short-form messages. Similarly, Instagram may have been the vanguard of a change in the way Twitter handled sharing pictures.

Unfortunately, we may now never know.

You can follow Jack Dorsey on Twitter (with the convenient handle @Jack) and decide for yourself what his conspicuous lack of Instagram photos means.