Ads are everywhere. It may seem that the general public has become immune to advertisements, but this isn’t stopping Instagram from jumping onto the social media advertising scene.
In a recent article found on Businessweek.com, Joshua Brustein reveals Instagram’s plans on showing advertisements in its news-feed.
However, this photo-sharing service business is being strategic about how it is introducing their advertisements. First introducing the video playing feature, Instagram strived to beat its competitor, Vine. Instagram was not only trying to beat its rival business, but was looking for a way to sell video advertisements that fetches much higher rates than online display ads do.
This decision may anger the users of Instagram, but like many have adapted to the ads of social media giants Facebook and Twitter, it is probable that users will continue to use Instagram at a consistent rate. This is because of Instagram’s success in brand positioning. Its’ services carry a very strong point of difference: photo sharing. Presently, no other apps on the market uniquely provide the feature of real time image sharing. 
This gives Instagram a huge advantage and therefore the choice of including advertisements in its news feed may not lower its user count.
Sources:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-03/instagram-will-have-ads-dot-get-over-it#r=nav-f-story
One reply on “Advertisements have reached Instagram”
Great article!
I agree with your view. Instagram will not diminish the value that they hold to their users but only if they carefully design their ads to fit in with the “Instagram style.”
Through a value point of view for ad companies, it is hard to say how they will react to more subtly integrated ads. The balance between consumer value and revenue generating centres will be a key point in defining the future of Instagram.