"It's a participatory activity, not purely consumption."

(Good sound byte from Kevin Systrom)

More than 800,000 photos were marked #Sandy on Instagram. Extraordinary. Sandy was the largest event to take place and be captured on Instagram. It was maybe the largest event captured, ever.  In contrast, the 2012 Super Bowl garnered just 85,000 photos with a #Superbowl hashtag. 

"That means people were not only interested in it, but they were documenting it," Systrom says, adding that the hurricane illuminated shifting tides within social media. "It's a participatory activity, not purely consumption."

800,000 photos??? Who said you should never bet on a hurricane. And there's nothing like a Black Swan with some serious wind beneath its wings, to force a step change in social culture.