Instagram is preparing to introduce advertising to the photograph sharing service and image editing app for the first time. A report claiming that it will be including advertisements within its app comes at the same time as the Facebook-owned image and video-sharing social network has broken the 150 million monthly active user barrier.
Instagram will be “ready to begin selling ads within the next year,” said acting chief operating offer of Instagram Emily White to the Wall Street Journal. “We want to make money in the long term, but we don’t have any short-term pressure” advised White, stating that Instagram doesn’t want to spook its users away to Twitter and other similar services once it does offer adverts. It is suggested that Instagram could use the app’s Discover feature to show sponsored promoted content, though it could end up simply adding advertising between images shown on the main photo feed.
Of the 150 million active users, Instagram reports that the last 50 million joined in the last six months, and that more than 60 percent of users are now located outside the United States.
