Advertising on Instagram: The Future of Advertising

By Charleco Scipio II

A few weeks ago Instagram released a sample of what ads will look like on the app. Considering the 150 million active users of the app this presents a massive advertising opportunity for brands, companies and small businesses. Here is the sample they released:

"We want ads to be creative and engaging, so we’re starting with just a handful of brands that are already great members of the Instagram community. If you see an ad that doesn’t interest you, you can tap the “…” below it to hide it and provide feedback about what you didn’t like. This will help us show you more interesting ads in the future...Our focus with every product we build is to make Instagram a place where people come to connect and be inspired. Building Instagram as a business will help us better serve the global—and ever growing—Instagram community, while maintaining the simplicity you know and love."

The news was received with mix reviews by users. Many users are opposed to seeing ads on Instagram. This might be due in part to the spam ads and clutter they have experienced on other apps and would explain why they fail to see the innovation behind the idea. This is essentially taking advertising to new levels and really enforces the ideal that the ad should shed more light on the product/service than itself. Having an ad on instagram would automatically mean that the ad would have to be visually stimulating to not be immediately hidden from ones feed. In a sense if the ad did not have the "sponsored" sign next to it you might not even realize it was an ad, IF it was done correctly. (Like the Starbucks Instagram Photo below)

Instagram is definitely embarking on new experiences, considering it is not too far from its release of video features. It will be interesting to see where they go with this and if advertising features will be allowed to other brands. It will be even further intriguing to see how these ads by the selected brands are received by the millions of active users.

What are your thoughts about ads on Instagram? Would you mind seeing them? Do you consider them clutter? Leave your comments below!

Facebook Messenger : Bringing Groups Closer and Closer Together

By Charleco Scipio II

Doesn't it feel great when all your friends get together and you can enjoy each others company? Or for those workaholics, isn't it great when you can meet with your business partners/colleagues, and you can get on the same page about a project? Or maybe you're a studious college student and love the productivity of a old fashion study group. Regardless of what group activity you're partaking in, the direct human contact comes to a stop at some point. Odds are you probably wont meet with them or even make contact with them until the next time you meet. Social Media, and more specifically, Facebook's Messenger App changes these dynamics completely.

It took me awhile to realize the usefulness of Facaebook Messenger in regards to groups. Like most people on Facebook, I never ventured off into group chat when it first became a feature. It wasn't until a couple a friends started a random chat that I saw how useful this can be to all types of groups, whether its a study group, business partners, or just a few friends. With the release of the Facebook Messenger App, communication is practically effortless.

The Messenger App allows you to start a group conversation with any of the people you are friends with on Facebook. 2 or more makes the group. You can then name the chat itself so the conversation is easily recognizable amongst all the other chats you may have up. The App makes messaging fast and easy, in a sense it's Yahoo Messenger and AIM made better. You can minimize the chat to a little bubble on your touch screen. You can see when your message was seen and by which members of the group (essentially holding people accountable for not responding). You can send photos and links with relative ease regardless of Android or IPhone. You also have the option of sending voice recordings, which is as close as we're going to get to the old "chirp" phones.

Another awesome feature is you can add files such as word docs with a few clicks and these docs can be easily received and downloaded by the other members. Which brings me to Business groups and In House teams. Facebook is the perfect tool to keep everybody on the same page quickly and efficiently. When running a business or a team, big or small, the speed in which information travels is very important and Facebook is providing a tool that will make things easier.

Just recently, Facebook updated their Messenger App with a sleek new look. This comes not too long after they added "Chat Heads" which reduces a chat to a little bubble on your screen. Now the app is much more efficient and much sexier.

Therefore the meeting never stops, the conversation never has to end, the sharing can continue online as it was offline. Another interesting feature to be noted is when you sync your phone (whether it be an Android or IPhone) to Facebook you now have contacts of all your friends, phone number or email or both. This is making not staying in touch practically impossible.


What is your favorite feature of the Facebook Messenger App? How many group chats are you a part of?