Instagram Launches Ads But Dont Worry, They'll Be 'Beautiful'

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Instagram announced yesterday that it will begin rolling out advertisements in the US over the next couple of months. "Seeing photos and videos from brands you don't follow will be new, so we'll start slow," the company assures users on its blog. "We'll focus on delivering a small number of beautiful, high-quality photos and videos from a handful of brands that are already great members of the Instagram community."

The blog post hints that the company is following the Vogue gold-standard of advertisement, which manages to have subscribers clamoring for more ads because they're attractive. "We want these ads to be enjoyable and creative," it reads, "in much the same way you see engaging, high-quality ads when you flip through your favorite magazine." It hasn't offered any example ads for all to scrutinize, but either way—whether they're spammy looking or kind of interesting looking —should a user not think that these brand images are beautiful, the user will be allowed to hide the content from the feed.

Company CEO Kevin Systrom explained the decision to Fast Company in relation to its parent company Facebook. "It's like living at home after college. There comes a time when you have to add to the pie. If Instagram is going to become what I want it to become, then it has to do that. It's gotta grow up."
· Instagram as a Growing Business [Instagram]
· Instagram Could Have Advertising By Next NYFW [Racked]