maniacalrage:

instagram:

Our aim is to make any advertisements you see feel as natural to Instagram as the photos and videos many of you already enjoy from your favorite brands. After all, our team doesn’t just build Instagram, we use it each and every day. We want these ads to be enjoyable and creative in much the same way you see engaging, high-quality ads when you flip through your favorite magazine.

Don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve never found flipping through magazines and seeing ads enjoyable. In fact, I’d venture to guess most people find that to be least enjoyable part of a magazine. And guess what? It will be just as terrible in Instagram.

You can pretend all you want that ads won’t be intrusive, annoying or awful, but they will be. They’re ads. You’re putting unwanted crap into a feed of photos from people I hand-selected to follow. Call it what it is: You should have monetized by charging for the service from the start, but you wanted users more than money and now that you want money, there’s nothing to do but make those users suffer.

Well said.