If you’ve ever needed proof that we live in the future, the events of today should certainly suffice. Instagram, having only just last week seen a huge spike in its users by adding an Android app, is being bought by Facebook for $1B in cash and stock. This moment in time collides with another photo company, Kodak. The company that inspired the phrase “Kodak moment” which is still being used today, is spiraling towards bankruptcy. The digital photo era is not only in full swing, but is clearly governed by whether or not you are able to take your photos, edit them on the fly, and post them to your favorite social network. Well, unless your favorite social network is Google+, that is.

Just a little while ago, Mark Zuckerberg and theInstagram blog simultaneously posted stories of the acquisition. It was made abundantly clear that Instagram was going to remain as its own app, and users would not be forced into any kind of Facebook integration if they didn’t want it. You can even make sure your contacts lists for Facebook and Instagram are still separate.

What was made clear on Zuck’s post, that was not made clear on Instagram’s, was the plans that are in store for the Instagram crew. While updates and new features will remain a priority for Instagram as a project, Mark Zuckerberg made it clear that Instagram is also going to be used to improve their internal products as well. That means a better photo studio for Facebook users, which is a far bigger deal than many realize. The integration of Google’s Picnik photo studio into Google+ created a rich, feature-packed photo manipulation suite built right into Google+. There’s nothing like it built into Facebook, and Instagram will change that in a hurry. Amidst the claims that Instagram is for square-cropped hipsters, the Instagram app delivers a lot of power when it comes to taking your existing photos and allowing you to improve them.

The Instagram userbase was already significant, and when Android support was added the service grew a million users overnight. Each of those users are now a part of a massive social network geared at sharing photos among each other. The one thing you can’t do on Instagram right now is share your photos to Google’ social network, but this isn’t a limitation of Instagram. This is due to Google+ not having any sort of publishing APIs, which we’ve been told is by design. If and when that ability is released, however, the new Facebook controlled app isn’t likely to be quick to support the feature. Instagram users are already posting to Twitter and Facebook, and as the Instagram team is brought in to support Facebook, there will be no need to post to Google+.

Many in the tech community say that Google execs are terrified of Facebook. As the largest social network in the world, and easily one of the largest generators of web traffic today, there’s been a significant back and forth between Facebook and Google. Google’s Offers system has continues to grow, where Facebook’s check in coupon service has withered. Now, as Google has shown dominance in photo editing on their social network, Facebook retaliates the best way they know how. Not only do they gain a powerful image editing tool, but they also gain millions of users who will have no need to use Google+. In the social wars, Google is the one that has to convince people to use their social network, Facebook just has to give users a reason not to leave.