Of all the social networks, Instagram stands out as the place to show off your most idealized life. But look more closely, and you can spot a dissonance present in those pristine posts when you scrutinize them—that low-fat granola bar looks too sumptuous, those expensive designer sunglasses worn too coolly (and yet still front-and-center!) in a casual photo. Are these filtered displays real life, or just an ad?
Now, Instagram is working to better distinguish a good old-fashioned ’gram from a glossy sponsorship with a new "branded content tool" it’s unveiling today. “A healthy community should be open and consistent about paid partnerships,” the company said in a blog post.
That's true: Transparency is a good thing. Otherwise, you end up with the embarrassing debacle of the Fyre Festival, in which 400 Instagram influencers hyped up the purported luxury music and beach-glamping extravaganza only to subject attendees on the day of the event to dirt fields, soggy tents, and sad folding chairs. Though organizers bear the blame for the festival's failure, Instagram got dragged through the muck in the process. Clarifying who is getting paid to post will help Instagram itself from losing its gloss when influencers go bad. In practice, that means you as a user will start to see a new “paid partnership with” subhead on posts and stories when someone has paid a ’grammer to feature a consumer product, service, or event.
Apart from helping users clearly identify sponsored posts—no more wonky #sponsored #ad tags needed—Instagram says the new tool will give both creators and sponsors access to more info on how the posts perform. For now, the tool is only available through a limited rollout. And you must use an Instagram business profile to access to it in the first place.
Instagram doesn’t yet have a specific plan for dealing with fraud. Influencers may still slip products in their posts without disclosing the sponsorship. At the moment, Instagram doesn’t have a way to ding these rogue posters. “During this initial stage we want to educate and gather feedback from our community and launch partners,” a company spokesperson wrote in an email to WIRED. “After this feedback period we will unveil a policy that will include enforcement.”
So, yeah, this isn’t a foolproof solution to keeping the next Fyre Festival at bay. But it’s a step in the right direction for Instagram and shows the company is taking transparency of sponsored posts seriously. At the very least, Instagram stating its priorities now might make succeeding “influencers” think harder about when it’s OK to pull the trigger—or, rather, snap a gram—on the next seemingly glossy event or product they may be hoping to hawk.
