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Instagram’s Twitter rival, Threads, is destined to become a boring playground for brands

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By Nathan McAlone

  • Instagram’s Twitter rival, Threads, has surged to over 100 million users, riding a hype wave.
  • But the new “conversation” platform has a fatal flaw: It’s going to be boring.
  • Meta’s vision of a “positive” environment will be better for brands than humans.

 

Instagram’s Twitter rival, Threads, has surged to over 100 million users in less than a week, an eye-popping figure that shows the sheer size of the hype wave it’s riding. But the app has a fatal flaw that will ultimately doom it to mediocrity: It’s going to be boring.

You can tell how boring Threads is going to be by the way Instagram parent Meta describes its vision: “To take what Instagram does best and expand that to text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas.”

Here’s a question for Meta: What is it, actually, that Instagram does best? The platform has felt like a declining power since the rise of TikTok (which it copied with Reels) and hasn’t been inspiring to either everyday users or influencers for a long time. When I think about what Instagram still is best at, it’s giving creators and celebs an outlet to make money from sponsored content. That’s not a great starting point for Threads.

It’s clear that Meta wants Threads to be like Twitter (the two platforms look nearly identical), only more “positive” and advertiser-friendly — a good place for everyone to make money.

Instagram boss Adam Mosseri further outlined the company’s vision when he said last week that while politics and “hard news” would “inevitably” show up on Threads, the company wouldn’t do “anything to encourage those verticals.”

I get why Meta is scared of politics, given the polarization in the US and how badly the subject warped Facebook. But Mosseri’s comment about “hard news” shows the company’s strategy is about avoiding more than just partisan outrage.

Hard news can be nebulous to define, but generally refers to a certain seriousness of tone and a slant toward uncovering information that has widespread impact. It also tends to skew “negative” and is often not advertiser-friendly. That’s part of the reason advertisers put hard news subjects like the climate crisis and Russia’s war in Ukraine on blocklists.

I understand the impulse to create an environment less full of harassment and hate than Twitter can be. But the idea of doing that by avoiding conversation topics perceived as negative seems a recipe for creating a very boring dinner party. How many of the most interesting conversations you’ve ever had were advertiser-friendly?

It reminds me of a quote from Agent Smith in the movie “The Matrix.”

“Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world?” he says, referring to the virtual world that the film’s machines use to keep human minds engaged while they harvest energy from their bodies. “Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster.” The humans didn’t believe it because it didn’t feel real.

I think Threads, a “conversation” platform designed with positivity in mind, will feel like a similarly sanitized world and will fail to engage users in the long run. Things don’t get weird on Instagram, a brand-friendly paradise where users perfectly curate how they want their lives to appear to others. So, what’s to suggest things will get weird on Threads?

And that means despite the early outburst of enthusiasm, Threads — like Instagram — might end up being better for brands than for humans.

Feature Image Credit: Instagram boss Adam Mosseri. Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for WIRED

By Nathan McAlone

Sourced from Insider

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Instagram Will Now Allow Users to Download Publicly Posted Reels Content

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After testing it out over the past few months, Instagram’s now rolling out the option to download publicly posted Reels to your camera roll, which will provide another way to share Reels content.

As per Instagram chief Adam Mosseri (on his Instagram channel):

“In the US, we’re rolling out the ability to download reels shared by public accounts to your camera roll. Just tap the ‘Share’ icon on a reel you love and selected ‘Download’.”

That’ll enable broader sharing of TikTok content, which, even without a direct link back to the creators’ profile, can still help to boost their branding, with the inclusion of their username on the clip.

Though there are some limitations. Some users have reported audio issues with some Reels content, which could be linked to Meta’s music licensing agreements. We’ve asked Instagram for further clarification on this element.

Creators can also opt out of enabling downloads of their content in their Account Settings, so not all videos will be downloadable, while you can’t save privately posted content.

And it’s only available to selected users in the US, at least for the time being. But outside of that, it’ll add another pathway for creators to maximize the reach of their content across platforms, following the lead of TikTok, which has enabled video downloads since forever, basically.

As such, the only real surprise is that it’s taken IG this long to enable the function – but it was likely looking to better protect creators by enabling linkage back to their original posts in the app. Or it was hesitant to allow users to download and re-use IG posts elsewhere – but either way, it’s here now, so stop asking so many questions.

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Sourced from SocialMediaToday

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6 Tips To Grow Your Followers Organically On Instagram

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By Vasid Qureshi

Do you plan to grow your Instagram followers organically? Well, who does not want to, but most of you are not as skilled as it requires. You need to follow various tips and tricks to get more Instagram followers and expand your Instagram platform.

In the near-decade that this digital media handle has been everywhere, it keeps modifying its algorithms and offering new features, meaning brands require constant profile growth.

Well, how do businesses adapt? By incorporating and trying out novel growth planes. Indeed some services can boost growth via offering paid followers and likes, but organic followers are best than things. It is best for the startups and newbies to buy these followers count but beware of the bots. If you are afraid of such scams, then look for the means to earn organic followers.

What describes Instagram Growth?

Instagram is the key element when you discuss the growth of your business. But how can you describe the development of these social media channels? It begins with the followers’ count you gain and have.

But to have these novel followers, you will require improving interaction with your profile business exposure and making a compelling post. Otherwise, why else would anyone follow you? If your Instagram growth is static and likes to add a little spark into your plan, suggest testing these tips.

Tip #1. Research

Whether you discuss this photo-sharing application or other online handles, the main key to the success path would be RESEARCH. In Instagram cases, you have to research your focused people. It is useless to run after the users who are not curious about your things. Via research, you might target a specific group of individuals who like to know about your services.

Here are the top tips to help on learning your focused audience:

Categorization: Begin categorizing your focused people based on multiple factors like:

  • location
  • age groups
  • main interests

Besides that, you are also required to explore that kind of post that shall draw their attention.

Communicate: Remember, communication is a magic potion to every brand’s growth. Thus, we would suggest you interact with your followers. Talking to the focused people would never be feasible. Hence you can make it happen via indirect means like feeds and stories. Via, these Instagram stories, you may ask them regarding their disinterest and interests.

Competitors’ analysis: You must always be conscious of your competitor’s activity. Assure that your business is going through your rival posting plan regularly. Also, study other factors too, like:

  • comment on the post
  • primary content

Increase Instagram followers: Buying Instagram likes and followers are famous these days. Many users go to get Instagram followers UK to mark their presence.

Tip #2. Planning:

After identifying your target people, you have to begin working on the content plan. Remember never to post anything randomly just for posting purposes. It would never help you in this manner, but in the end, it decreases your credibility. Hence, it will be it that you schedule your e post well before uploading it finally.

Tip #3. Support Similar Profile:

You must always follow a similar profile which is the same as yours. It’s a suitable means to keep some exposure. View and like on their content and show your presence. Take out time from the routine and interact with a similar profile.

Tip #4. Hashtag

Usage of #tags has been a suitable plan to have more followers. Using 30 tags is not necessary but use the relevant ones. In Instagram, it is the game of quality and not quantity. Remember the hashtag show the true image of your content in front of the target users.

Tip #5. Use other Mediums:

It would help if you always boosted your official profile on other social media handles. These may be Facebook, LinkedIn, and Tumblr. You can try out incorporating the widget to the official FB profile that can implant your Instagram information in the Facebook profile. Also, add the noteworthy Instagram profile to your Instagram account whenever you send an email.

Tip #6. Geolocation Tagging

If you upload the content from any Instagramable area, assure you use geotags effectively. If you are reposting any post or using the images, you must mention the concerned owners in the caption. Chances are more that your page will earn the same recognition. You must perform with joint interests; hence, you both get benefits.

Wrap it up:

Having fewer Instagram boosts although many activities on this channel shall offer you a bad feeling. But never hope because these tips will help you expand your Instagram profile effectively. All you require is patience.

By Vasid Qureshi

Sourced from INFLUENCIVE

 

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Social Media Shake-up? Instagram Planning To Challenge Twitter’s Dominance With New App?

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By Ajay Sharma

According to recent reports, a leaked marketing clip has provided a sneak peek into Instagram’s rumoured text-based app that could compete with Twitter.

According to recent reports, a leaked marketing clip has provided a sneak peek into Instagram’s rumoured text-based app that could potentially compete with Twitter. The app, which has been codenamed P92 or Barcelona, is referred to as “Instagram’s new text-based app for conversations” in the slide, according to The Verge report.

Users will have the convenience of signing in to the app with their existing Instagram username and password. Furthermore, their followers, handle, bio, and verification will seamlessly transfer over from the main Instagram app, the report said. The leaked marketing slides reveal that the new app resembles a combination of Instagram and Twitter, featuring a feed where users can make text posts up to 500 characters long, complete with attached links, photos, and videos.

Is Instagram planning to enter the Twitter arena?

According to the reports, Meta, the parent company of Instagram, seems to prioritise moderation controls from the outset. The leaked marketing slide mentions that users will have settings to manage who can reply to their posts and mention their accounts. It also suggests that any accounts blocked on Instagram will carry over to this new text-based app.

In an intriguing move, the app will also introduce an element of decentralisation. The slide indicates that compatibility with certain other apps like Mastodon is in the works, allowing users from these apps to search for, follow, and interact with profiles and content on the Instagram text app. This compatibility is likely to be achieved through ActivityPub, a protocol explored by Meta and other technology companies.

Should the app be widely released, it could further solidify Instagram’s popularity as a social media platform. As Twitter faces ongoing challenges, many users are actively seeking alternative platforms to share tweet-like updates. Instagram’s potential entry into this space could present a compelling option for those seeking a new online destination.

While the leaked marketing clip has generated excitement, official confirmation and further details from Instagram or Meta are still awaited, leaving users and industry observers eager for official announcements.

Feature Image Credit: Unsplash/Representative

By Ajay Sharma

Sourced from REPUBLICWORLD.COM

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I Got Verified on Instagram — Here Are 5 Benefits I Noticed After Just 1 Month.

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By Dejon Brooks

Here are five great benefits I’ve enjoyed after just one month of being verified on Instagram.

If you have an Instagram account, you’ve probably always dreamed of having a blue checkmark next to your name. There’s just something about it that lets people know that you’re important.

I recently got verified on Instagram, and to be honest, the chase was more exciting than the catch. But over the past four weeks, I’ve noticed some amazing benefits from being verified on Instagram that I was not expecting.

Here are the top five benefits I noticed and gained from being verified on Instagram.

Benefit #1: It makes it easier to hold up/increase prices

I always encourage business prospects to follow me on social media within my sales process. I specifically like sending people to LinkedIn and Instagram. I love sending prospects to my social media accounts because my personal branding does all of the heavy lifting for me. I set up those accounts so it will leave people eager to attend future meetings and buy.

Prospects being more eager to purchase from me made it easier to increase my prices and charge exactly what I’m worth.

I could still do this without being verified, but the blue badge beside my name made me feel more confident asking for what I’m worth.

Benefit #2: High-profile accounts follow you back

I follow a couple of well-known public figures on social media. This includes athletes, entrepreneurs, journalists and everything else in between. I specifically like reading people’s posts and watching their stories. When a verified account likes a post or watches someone’s stories, it stands out significantly.

This is enough to cause the high-profile account I’m following to check out my page and eventually follow me back. I noticed this benefit by accident after four high-profile verified accounts followed me back out of the blue within the span of a week.

This could be very valuable for networking.

Benefit #3: Increased credibility and authority

I already had enough credibility on my Instagram account without having the blue checkmark next to my name. I built this credibility through the accumulated press, showcasing my accomplishments and customer case studies. However, having the blue check next to my name was the icing on the cake and helped put everything together. The blue check has a way of causing others to perceive you as someone with both credibility and authority.

Benefit #4: It’s easier to close on high-profile individuals

I recently attended an event where a high-profile, motivational speaker was talking on stage. Halfway through his talk, I got the idea to approach him afterward and offered to help him write his book. At the end of the event, I managed to cross paths with him and speak with him for a bit. At the right moment, I presented my offer of helping him write his book. He was slightly interested, but his interest took off once I showed him my Instagram account and the book I was writing.

Once he saw my page, his excitement went through the roof, and I got a meeting booked through his assistant the next day.

Benefit #5: Reduced flakes and no-shows

Not only have I noticed this within business, but I have also noticed it within dating — the amount of flakes and no-shows I receive has gone down. I’m unsure if this directly correlates to getting verified on Instagram, but I have noticed that people have started to value me and my time more seriously.

It is a great way to decrease your flakes and no-shows dramatically. Being verified is just the icing on the cake that indicates that you’re in demand.

In reality, being verified on Instagram means nothing. When I first got the blue checkmark, I honestly felt so empty. But when you combine the blue badge with your purpose, it does something to your self-esteem. It can make you feel like you’re already a rockstar or you already have a million or billion-dollar business.

Now, you don’t want this to go to your head to where you’re living delusionally, but I noticed it helps with pushing harder to reach your dreams and reassuring you that you can do hard things.

If you think getting verified on Instagram will be worth it, I’d highly recommend attempting it. You’d be surprised at the opportunities it brings and the doors it opens up.

By Dejon Brooks

Entrepreneur Leadership Network Contributor

CEO & Founder of Trend Watchers. Dejon Brooks is an entrepreneur who founded Trend Watchers with his life savings. Aged 21, Dejon has turned Trend Watchers into a successful business. After reaching over 100M+ people on his personal accounts, he now helps content creators go viral by taking advantage of internet trends.

Sourced from Entrepreneur

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8 Instagram Features Perfect for Small Businesses

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Sourced from appPicker

Instagram isn’t considered one of the best marketing tools, but that is because the larger companies have a hard time breaking its formula with raw capital alone. They have to pay massive amounts to influencers on Instagram to receive far less value for money than if they paid Facebook or Twitter influencers. As a result, smaller businesses are able to sneak into the public view and make some gains on a brand-by-brand level. Here are a few Instagram features that favour smaller businesses.

  1. Create a Wall of Branding Messages

Put simply, you can turn your Instagram account into a big repository of your branding and marketing messages. All you have to do is put your evergreen stuff in there, and it will still be interesting to the people who visit. Added to which, it helps spread your brand message on social media.

  1. You Can Buy Attention Three Ways

These days, you can pay for Instagram promotion through their marketing systems and tools. This is expensive and fairly inefficient. You can pay influencers and celebrities to promote your brand, but that is even more expensive. Or, you can go online and buy Instagram accounts from a company like Fameswap, and then exploit the accounts of other people who have already built up their audience.

  1. Test Your Ads Through Instagram Stories

This is a trick as old as time. You can run all your most shaky ads through Instagram to see how people react. Oddly, if people do not react at all, it probably means your advertisement is okay for mainstream use but may need improvement. Nevertheless, taking a few chances and running a few risky ads through Instagram is rarely a bad thing, even if you don’t gather much data.

  1. You Can Ask Your Customers For Input

As with all social media, you can ask your followers and potential customers for input on your services, your products, your brands, your offers and your social media posts. As a smaller business, you can be more interactive and authentic with your customers.

  1. Watch and Maybe Even Copy Your Competitors

You can copy your competitors posts, ideas and sales. You can check out what works for them, and then make your own version. The great thing is that there is nothing they can do about it. Plus, you don’t have to try their methods right away, you copy their stuff, make your own, make it better, and then release it when the time is right.

  1. Try Instagram Live For Certain Promotions

There are certain companies that are able to make the most of Instagram live. Haunted houses are pretty popular at the moment, and there are times of the year when fireworks are popular too. If you are running events that are live themselves, like live standup comedy, then you can do very well with the Instagram Live features. There are even people making unboxing videos of their own products, so you could try that too. They seem to be oddly popular for unknown reasons.

  1. You Can Upload Videos of 60 Minutes

If you run a business account that is verified, you can run videos of up to 60 minutes. If you have the sort of content or even the types of services that warrant a 60 minute run-time, then you have an advantage over all the accounts that cannot post 60 minute videos.

  1. Get Yourself Listed on Google

If you have a fully fleshed out Instagram profile and a well maintained Instagram account, then you will appear on Google when people are searching for your business. It doesn’t have a big impact, but it is one more Google result in your favour, possibly ranking above the Instagram profile of your competitors.

Sourced from appPicker

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Mark Zuckerberg Ends the Tech Party

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The CEO of Meta Platforms announces a new day in tech: conventional normality.

The party’s over.

In tech, this amounts to saying that the cool and Zen culture marked by an office transformed into a cosy lounge is over. Used to be we came, we entered and we were at home. The fridge was full; everyone helped themselves. The buffet was permanent.

The employee was in the centre. Work-life balance was the principle. The well-being of the employee came first. Companies were required to do everything to put their employees at ease to get the best out of them.

No more.

It’s all a distant memory now, says Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms  (META) – Get Free Report. Welcome to the real world, he proclaimed on March 14.

The social media emperor just announced the elimination of 10,000 additional jobs, after 11,000 jobs were cut last November. In all, the parent of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp has cut 21,000 jobs in four months.

‘Year of Efficiency’

It’s not just the cuts themselves that’s striking here. It’s the tone with which Zuckerberg announced the new wave of austerity measures. He adopted the vernacular of the boss of an old-economy company. He was a cost-killer. He was cold. It’s isn’t personal; it’s just business. He was a normal boss.

“In our Year of Efficiency, we are focused on cancelling projects that are duplicative or lower priority and making every organization as lean as possible,” Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post.

He continued: “As part of the Year of Efficiency, we’re focusing on returning to a more optimal ratio of engineers to other roles. It’s important for all groups to get leaner and more efficient to enable our technology groups to get as lean and efficient as possible.”

He used the word “efficiency” fully a dozen times, including three times in the first two paragraphs. These two paragraphs are a catch-all of classic corporate lingo that says everything and nothing: “improve our financial performance,” “difficult environment,” “execute,” “optimize,” “workstreams,” “processes,” “changes,” “uncertainty,” and “focus.”

He sounds like the CEO of a traditional company. His post is a manual, a guide that other tech CEOs will use as well.

The tone is cold. And it changed. In November, when Zuckerberg announced the elimination of 11,000 jobs, he played the sensitive chord. He apologized.

“I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here,” the CEO said at the time. “I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted.”

This time, there is none of that. He is not sentimental, as if to put a wall between him and those for whom the music just stopped and who were asked to go home while the evening was in full swing. He just killed the fun.

A New Normal

Tech and Silicon Valley now enter the normal corporate world. In this world, what matters is to please the markets. And markets like cost cuts. The employee is secondary. If you make big profits with the least possible cost, the markets applaud.

Interestingly, Zuckerberg’s announcements come at the same time as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, a major player in the startup ecosystem and in Silicon Valley.

The two events cannot be separated. Their symbolism is strong. It is the end of an era and the beginning of a new one, or rather the meeting of the old economy and the new one.

In case anyone still has any doubts, Zuckerberg also appears to be ending remote work at Meta. Tech companies previously backed off from from forcing employees back to the office.

“Our early analysis of performance data suggests that engineers who either joined Meta in-person and then transferred to remote or remained in-person performed better on average than people who joined remotely,” he said.

“This analysis also shows that engineers earlier in their career perform better on average when they work in-person with teammates at least three days a week.”

“I encourage all of you to find more opportunities to work with your colleagues in person.”

The party is over. It’s time to grow up, Zuckerberg seems to be saying.

One last tip to reflect on, while you’re on your way home: “I encourage each of you to focus on what you can control. That is, do great work and support your teammates.”

Tech workers: Welcome to a normal boss and a normal company.

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Sourced from TheStreet

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Facebook is selling new types of ads on Instagram and Messenger as revenue declines

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By Jonathan Vanian

Facebook parent Meta

is opening up new avenues for advertising on Instagram and Messenger as the company seeks to reverse a downward trend in revenue that recently pushed the stock price to its lowest since early 2019.

In an event for advertisers on Monday, Meta introduced a new way for advertisers to display ads on Instagram’s explore page, which shows content to users based on their preferences and routines, and on the profile pages of all public, non-teen Instagram users. As part of a new test of the ad format, select influencers will be able to allow ads to appear on their feeds as a potential source of revenue.

On the Messenger messaging service, Facebook is launching a tool that uses machine learning software to show ads intended to “reach people who are most likely to make a purchase,” said Maz Sharafi, Meta’s vice president of marketing and growth for business messaging. Sharafi noted that “the important thing here is that we do not use message content for ads,” implying that the company will not analyse Messenger messages to determine which ads get placed.

The announcements come just three weeks before Meta is scheduled to release its third-quarter earnings report, which is expected to show a second straight period of declining revenue. The company gets substantially all of its sales from mobile ads, a business that’s been hammered this year because of Apple’s

privacy updates to its operating system as well as a sputtering economy and rising competition from TikTok. Meta’s stock has lost close to 60% of its value this year.

As Meta looks to the future, the company is banking on the emergence of virtual reality and the metaverse to drive growth. It’s now starting to experiment with how advertisers will exist in that world.

Meta said it’s testing augmented reality ads within Instagram’s main feed and stories feature, said Nicola Mendelsohn, Meta’s vice president of the global business group, at the ad event. Most consumers experience AR today when they interact with the digital filters that decorate the photos and videos they see on social media services like Facebook and Snapchat.

“Through the AR experience, brands can encourage people to actually try out and try on that product or interact with effects from their surroundings,” Mendelsohn said.

Another new option for businesses on Instagram is an ad product called multiadvertiser ads that will show users a carousel of related promotions to accompany the original ad. Meta didn’t providing pricing details on any of its new offerings.

One of Facebook’s primary challenges this year has been its hefty investments in its TikTok competitor called Reels, because there isn’t yet an established ad format for short-form, viral videos.

To try to take advantage of the growing popularity of Reels, Meta is debuting what it calls post-loop ads, a new ad format for creators and companies. A creator can run these short video ads of their partners in between their Reels. That feature is only available on the core Facebook app.

Additionally, businesses have the option of embedding a carousel of ads onto the bottom of a creator’s Reels if approved by the creator.

Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify that ads will be rolled out to all Instagram users.

Feature Image Credit: Onur Dogman | Lightrocket | Getty Images

By Jonathan Vanian

@jonathanvanian

Sourced from CNBC

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Instagram is about to cram even more ads into your feed

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If you thought there’s no corner on Instagram without ads, you’re wrong, my good friend. Meta can always make room for more, and that’s exactly what it’s about to do.

As the company is struggling with a major financial loss, it needs a way to generate more revenue. So, Instagram is about to get even more ads, and they’re going to be everywhere.

There are already ads on your Feed, in Reels, in Stories… So is there even a place where there can be more of them? Meta found the way, so they will now be on in your Explore feed, and a feed of posts you see when you click on someone’s profile. Brands can already post ads to the Explore feed, and the profile feed ads are still in the testing phase. “As a part of this test, we will experiment with a monetization opportunity that will allow eligible creators to earn extra income from ads displayed in their profile feeds, beginning with select U.S. creators,” Meta writes.

But wait, there’s more. Instagram now also has AI-powered multi-advertiser ads. In other words, Instagram’s algorithm will pay attention when you engage with an ad. And then, it will deliver ads underneath that it thinks may interest you.

In the announcement, Meta writes that new ad placements and formats are there “to help businesses tell their story and reach new customers.” So kind of them, right? As a mere Instagram user and creator, I feel like both my work and the work of the people I follow are drowning in ads and branded content. I think it’s only a matter of time before we find an alternative for showcasing and selling our artwork.

[via Engadget]

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Dunja Djudjic is a writer and photographer from Novi Sad, Serbia. You can see her work on Flickr, Behance and her Facebook page.

Sourced from www.diyphotography.net

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