Instagram posts will now show whether they were sponsored by a third party or not.

Being a social network, Instagram is a way to expose people to a variety of products with just one image. Paying users with millions of followers to post a photo showcasing a product is a surefire way of reaching new audiences, but the Federal Trade Commission is now demanding that users clarify when they are sponsoring a product.

Instagram Sponsored Posts
Instagram sponsored posts. Image credit: Instagram.

Influencers will have to tag their sponsor

The way Instagram will tackle this is by putting a “Paid partnership with” sub-header in posts and stories where there is a commercial relationship between the person who posted the image and a third party.

Supposedly, Instagram is a tool for “building relationships through shared experiences,” making the way people interact with each other a key factor to cultivate in the service. If users start cashing checks for posting specific content, then that relationship exchanges personal value for monetary value. It’s as if one of your friends is constantly trying to sell you something.

Instagram Sponsored Posts
An Instagram post by Scott Disick. Image credit: Instagram.

The decision to implement the sub-header comes from a complaint by the Federal Trade Commission. They reached out to Instagram influencers and warned them about not being clear when a company was paying them to advertise a product or service. Usually, they make use of tags like #sponsored or #advertising but this has been optional so far.

Influencers will now have a tool allowing them to tag the business they are in partnership with. The tag will redirect users to the business’ account, providing a more “transparent” relationship among influencers and their followers. Furthermore, the business partner can benefit from knowing the traffic analytics for that particular post, how many Likes and comments it generated, and whether people are interested in the product.

Currently, content creators and small businesses are testing the new tool. It will launch in the next following months, alongside new clauses inside Instagram’s terms of use.

In very little time, Instagram has released several functions to improve the user experience. One of the latest is Archive, which lets the user move shared posts into a space that’s visible only to the user at hand. It is meant to work similarly to “Liked photos,” although Archive is a feature dedicated solely for the purpose of storing posts, regardless of whether the user has liked them or not.

“Your profile is a representation of who you are and evolves with you over time. With Archive, you now have more flexibility to shape your profile while still preserving moments that matter,” reads Instagram’s statement on the new feature.

To Archive a post, the user must share it first. After doing so, then one must tap the “…” icon at the top of the post and select “Archive.” Archived posts will contain the likes and comments of the post when it was first saved. One can also choose to have the post “Show on Profile,” making it no longer invisible to users who visit our account.

Another feature introduced in June is a set of new camera filters, including a drawn hat filter, and a puppy’s ears and nose filter. These features also work with Boomerang, Rewind, and any video format that’s supported on Instagram.

Source: Instagram Press