A Forbes.com contributor named the controversy-ridden Instagram as the top tech company of 2012. Tanya Prive, the contributor, said the list was based on exits, valuations by A+++ investors and rapid growth.

Instagram offers a popular app which allows users to add filters and effects to photos and share them over the Internet or smartphones.

In picking Instagram for the top spot, Ms Prive pointed out that the company was purchased by Facebook for $750 million and it set download records with over 100 million loyal users by September 2012 after it was released to the Android market. She pointed out that Instagram relied merely on fans to spread the word.

Kevin Systrom and Cheyenne Foster created and launched Instagram in October 2010 and within three months its users reached 1 million. By mid 2011, the users jumped to 5 million and breached the 10 million marks in September 2011.

However, before 2012 ended, Instagram announced a change of terms of used that caused a widespread uproar from its millions of users, causing the company to make an about face and apologise for the gaffe.

The photo-sharing services planned to use photos of users for commercial purposes without compensation as part of the policy change, but the threat of members unsubscribing caused Instagram to change its policy.

Reports said that the number of daily active Instagram users who accessed the service through Facebook was down to 12.5 million as of the last week of December 2012 compared to 16.4 million the week before based on an AppData survey.

However, Instagram question the survey results. "This data is inaccurate. We continue to see strong and steady growth in both registered and active users of Instagram," the company said in a statement.

AppDate initially insisted the decline was due to the changes in terms of service by Instagram, the survey firm eventually attributed the drop among users for the Dec 24 and 25 dates to the holiday-related which was not unique to Instagram but was also experienced by other apps such as Skype, Pandora, Pinterest and Yelp.

Similar observations on other Facebook apps such as FarmVille, Pinterest and Spotify were observed by The Next Webb over the same period when Instagram logged a drop in users.

Rounding up Ms Prive's other top 10 tech companies in 2012 were:

l Airbnb - Lets people with extra space rent it out to travelers

l Github - Lets developers share code and offers hosting for projects

l Fab.Com - Lets shoppers look for items that are more unique than those found in mass-market stores

l Square, Inc - Allows acceptance of credit card payments on mobile phones using a plug-in device or entering the card details on the phone.

l Uber - Make calling a car convenient

l ZocDoc - Helps patients schedule doctor appointments online

l Etsy.com - E-commerce Web site focused on handmade or vintage items and art and craft supplies

l Rent the Runway - Managed to rent luxury fashion at a fraction of the actual cost

l Buddy Media - Offers some of the world's largest brands social media solutions by helping them build powerful connections globally.

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