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| credit to marketingland.com |
Instagram encountered a massive toll on it's social capital
after a PR firestorm regarding the introduction of controversial policies that
permit third-party commercial use of photos without user consent or
compensation. This was a poorly timed decision, given the recent Facebook
acquisition and new competition such as Twitter’s added filters and Google
Snapseed. The public outcry generated also indicates that society still holds
strong attitudes on online privacy and emphasizes the need for transparency in
terms of service changes. In short, this case signifies the PR challenge faced
by technology companies in introducing social advertising to a free service
without jeopardizing their consumer relationships.
On a more optimistic note, the consequent retraction of
these policies demonstrates that Instagram respond to user concerns. Still,
given the inevitability of the Perceptive Web as the next logical step for
advertising, along with the fact that Facebook will expect returns on their $715 million investment, there is no question that
Instagram will be monetized, though the method by which this will take place
remains largely undefined. No matter the final proposal, PR firms will
certainly be interested to see whether Instagram have learnt from their mistakes
when releasing this news a second time around.
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