If you didn’t want advertising, take two cups. Instagram, the social network formerly known for photos and now containing more and more videos, has included two new types of ad formats in the app: ads in search results and reminder ads.
“People come to Instagram to discover new brands, products or upcoming events,” Instagram says in a blog post shared Tuesday. “Today, we’re introducing two new ad products that give businesses more ways to get discovered and make meaningful connections: reminder ads and ads in search results.”
For one, Instagram has debuted ads in search results “to reach people actively searching for businesses, products and content,” according to the social network. The ads will appear in the feed that appears when you click on a post in a search result, which usually recommends similar posts.
On the other hand, Instagram has also implemented “reminder ads,” a new format that will serve to “make it easier for businesses to announce, remind and notify people of future events or launches they might be interested in” through push notifications on their devices.
While the first will be the classic Instagram ad feed of a lifetime, only that it will be located in a new place, the second will be much less annoying than it may seem, due to the fact that, as such, it is a reminder option for events or happenings organized by content creators or brands that, in addition, can be freely activated and deactivated. Instagram considers it an advertising format, but it would be more along the lines of a new type of notification aimed at extending the reach of an event and building anticipation.
Instagram is no longer what it used to be for those of us who frequented it years ago. The social network, which some time ago wanted to focus more on other monetization methods such as in-app e-commerce, has discarded this path and has turned fully to the advertising business of its “family”, including more and more ads in the app.
In addition, the social network is testing, like its sister Facebook, a new type of user account verification via subscription that would cost $12 per month. A clear copy of the model set up by Elon Musk on Twitter and which could create, if generally implemented, a precedent that will almost certainly annoy its users.
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