San Francisco, Feb 23 (IANS): Popular photo-sharing app Instagram is terminating its veteran Global Community Team that worked to build deep ties with photographers and promote the service around the world as part of restructuring in the company, media reported.

"As part of a reorganisation at the company, about 12 jobs currently located in cities around the world will be eliminated, with affected employees being offered jobs elsewhere at Instagram or at its parent company, Facebook," The Verge reported on Thursday.

The move was designed to eliminate duplicate efforts among some members of the team and consolidate the company's marketing and communications efforts into a single team headquartered in Menlo Park, California, a former employee was quoted as saying.

The Facebook-owned company's community efforts date back nearly to its founding 2010, when fans of the app would visit the company's small office in San Francisco and go on photo walks with its founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.

"We recently integrated the Community group into the broader Outreach organization to better support our growing Instagram community this year and beyond.

"There were a small number of people affected by the change who didn't make the move into other departments and our priority is helping them find other roles at Instagram or other parts of the Facebook family. Both companies are growing and have many job openings," Gabe Madway, Spokesperson, Instagram was quoted as saying in The Verge.