By Clarissa Toll |Staff Writer|
Instagram will now include ads within the feeds of their consumers.
This comes shortly after Facebook purchased the social media photo sharing app in April for $1 billion in cash and stocks. According to Instagram’s blog, the ads will be “beautiful, high-quality photos and videos from a handful of brands that are already great members of the Instagram community.”
The blog post also stated, “Our aim is to make any ads you see feel as natural to Instagram as the photos and videos many of you already enjoy from your favorite brands.”
The company admits they will begin by slowly introducing ads to a certain allotment of it’s users.
“Ads are a necessary evil,” said Neil Harris, a technology guru for a local organization, “Facebook didn’t pay $1 Billion for Instagram just for fun, they did it as an investment to make money, and on the internet that means selling ad views.”
Although social media feels there is a need for ads, some students find them to be unimportant and bothersome. These advertisements would accompany others already being used by similar social media websites.
“I would find it frustrating to have to sift through a bunch of irrelevant ads,” said student Kelly Pearson. “If they find some way to filter it to my interests, it would be far more tolerable.”
CNN Money stated, “Instagram will deliver ads to users regardless of their stated interests,” unlike Facebook, who tries to alter which advertisements you see by your interests and typical searches.
Imari Vigil, local college student, said “I just think that would be overkill with TV ads, billboard, radio, ads in business’s, email, and now (more) social media ads.”
On the other hand, some feel advertisements is what comes along with using social media.
Student Yessenia Smullen, said, “As long as they are not offensive I don’t mind, it’s a free app, so I can’t object.”
Other social media sites such as Pinterest and Flickr, use ads within their media formats. According to Josh Constine, from techcrunch.com, ads on Pinterest will be found within searches, “When you search for Halloween, you might see a costume on sale at a local shop that had pinned the outfit.”
Ads like this on Pinterest will appear in any form, whether it be on the website or on the app. In May, Flickr created a way for users to have accounts with the option to use a free version or a $49.99 version without ads.
According to Matt McGee on marketingland.com, an online source that writes to explain social media marketing strategies, “By doubling the price of the paid account and killing all the benefits except not seeing ads, Yahoo is practically begging Flickr users not to have paid accounts.”
Even sites like Google and Bing, provide options for users to grow their businesses by allowing them to purchase ad space.
As Instagram joins in, there is a possibility that down the road an option for an ad free version may come into play, but until then, expect ads from well-known brands to be implemented within your feed.
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