Everyone knows that celebrities make money by posting about products on their personal social media accounts, including the most popular photo-sharing app -- Instagram. As if it's not obvious enough, Instagram is launching a new feature that will emphasize a sponsored post.
Posts from celebrities or "influencers," as they are fondly called, will be labeled as a sponsored post when they upload content for a certain brand. The photo will have a notice that says "Paid partnership with..." placed on top of the sponsored story. This Instagram feature is available for both photo and video content.
But, the feature goes beyond just labeling sponsored and non-sponsored content. The move was made after reports surfaced that 93 percent of paid posts were not properly labeled and did not comply with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) standards.
FTC requires all ads to be properly labeled like "Sponsored by...". The label will be placed above the image, where the location tab can be found. The note placed above the photo will make it easier for users to identify whether content they're looking at is sponsored or not.
Instagram's new feature: Beta testing
Currently, the new feature will only be available for select brands and celebrities, according to Buzzfeed. Buzzfeed will be one of the organizations that will try the new Instagram feature.
The social networking site developed this feature in order to help users identify whether or not content is sponsored. This will also be helpful for the FTC, who require celebrities and brands to disclose ads. This new feature allows transparency when it comes to ads posted on the platform. However, some advocacy groups say that this isn't enough to curb the actual non-disclosure problem.
Instagram Influencer Marketing
“We are happy to see that Instagram has the ability to create a feature that helps to identify posts as advertisements, but this new feature does not address the problem of undisclosed paid ads,” according to the spokesperson of Public Citizen in an interview with Buzzfeed.
The group also calls for a more strict system when it comes to Instagram advertisements They say that the current method can be construed as a "deceptive" influencer marketing technique.
The photo-sharing app is expected to fully roll out the feature to the community and partners in the coming days. However, it won't stop there. The company still needs to devise a way to enforce rules when it comes to influencer ads.
