Social media, as part of the new generation of media sharing, has to constantly keep up with technological changes and innovation. Pressured to keep users engaged and growing in numbers, these outlets that include Facebook and Twitter are reinventing themselves and their features on a continuous basis. This is often done through the introduction of applications, visual layout changes and targeted advertising.
In order for these platforms to continue to grow and earn revenue, they have introduced advertising that is often targeted towards the social media user. This is done through the generation of information that has been inputted by the user, either through personal details or past searches that demonstrate their interests.
An Advertising Opportunity
Instagram, a photo sharing social networking service, allows users to take pictures, apply creative filters to them, and share them with fellow Instagramers. It also allows them to post their Instagram photo on other social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. This service has a growing market and is relatively new, compared to Facebook and Twitter. However, they have yet to introduce an advertising function. As advertisers become more and more creative in ensuring that their client’s messages are heard, it is only inevitable that advertising will appear within Instagram. But the only question that remains is, how soon?
How Will They Do It?
Will they implement promoted advertisements like Twitter, in the form of pictures between the photos of those who they are ‘following’? Or will they force users to look at an advertisement before they are able to upload a photo to the system like YouTube?
Recently, Instagram developed a web based version of the social networking system where it had been previously restricted as a mobile application. This raises the possibility of yet another opportunity to use advertisements. As with Facebook who uses the margins to place ads, Instagram can utilize this space as well with their web version of the social media outlet.
Will It Work?
With more than 100 million users generated since its launch in 2010, Instagram has a strong and solid support system. However, with the inevitable implementation of advertisements, will this number continue to grow at its current pace or will it taper off from the frustrations of advertisements.
