Instagram is for sale again, but not how you’d think
In a news week dominated by Apple’s iPhone announcement, one other news story that pretty much hit with a whimper is that Instagram hit 150 million users and are planning to roll out ads next year.
What do you think of ads on Instagram? This is the topic of today’s Friday talkback.
They say that nothing is free, especially on the internet. If you can’t figure out what a site is selling, odds are you are the product. Instagram parent company Facebook figured this out years ago.
It’s been a widely held notion that ads on Instagram were only a matter of time and now we have a timeline. I suspect that the first ads will work a lot like Facebook’s sponsored posts. That is, they’ll appear as items in your feed that make you wonder how they got there. Not blatant ads per se, but the more subtle type that blends into the content that you are engaged with. I doubt they will add a banner ad slot to the Instagram apps, but without details we can only guess.
This keeps Instagram free for users and shareholders happy, but will these ads just blend into the Instagram experience or feel more like a further intrusion into our privacy — hey, that’s MY Instagram feed!
So, once again, today, you’re the pundits. What do you think of Instagram running bona-fide ads on the platform? How do you think they’ll look? Will it affect how much you use Instagram? Does it even matter any more?
Let us know what you think. Sound off in the comments below.
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