Studio: pitched as the Instagram for design, Studio is an app that is building on a different philosophy in social media.

Many of the giants, like Facebook, Twitter and Linked In focus on consumption. When you use these sites you are reading your contacts content and engaging with that, and even though you do create your own content to post, the focus and pull of these networking sites has been on consumption of data.

One of the reasons behind the phenomenal success of Instagram was the fact that it allows users to actually create content, to manipulate their images and express something of themselves through that.

Studio does the same thing. This app allows you to create layered designs over images you have already. There is a stock of free layer designs available on the app or alternatively you can buy packages from Studio.

Joe Wilson, Studio’s CEO, said that social media is “kind of sucking for me right now,” and – this malaise was the inspiration for Studio.  Wilson was demotivated by the consumptive nature of social media, which New York Times columnist Nick Bilton said was like “opening the fridge & staring inside, even though you’re not hungry.”

By getting users to tap into their creative vein, Studio is building upon the new direction in social media. The developers have been clever with their features too, by creating “reuse”.  This allows users to “reuse” designs used by other users – not the photo they are done on though.

Studio is a handy little marketing app for businesses. You can add designs to your existing images and use them to help engage your online audience for little or no cost. The app is already a top 50 photo app in the U.S., and is featured by Apple. Users have created 74,000 designs since launch, 29,000 from the reuse feature. It’s safe to say the world of social media is definitely getting a shake up.