Evelyn M. Rusli at The Wall Street Journal, talking to Instagram’s new director of business operations Emily White:
Ms. White said some retailers also are interested in ad products that will allow users to click on pictures of products that link to a retailer’s own site. But she expressed reservations about such a system because many mobile websites need improvement.
I think one of Instagram’s strongest, but hardly-mentioned-at-all features is that you can’t include a link to a website, not as a caption, and not as a comment. The day they switch that on is the day every part of Instagram becomes infested with spam.
Personally, I think they need find a way to tap into the creative small businesses that have sprung up on Instagram, and work from there. Ads have to happen though, especially now that they recently hit 150 million users.
It’s going to be a tricky balancing act for sure.