SAN FRANCISCO – November 5, 2013 – Facebook has moved to monetize Instagram by beginning to display ads on the photo sharing service, which it acquired in a billion-dollar deal last year.
The first Instagram ad came from Michael Kors: a photo from the brand’s twitter account (michaelkors), featuring a ladies watch on a tea table, with colorful macarons in the background. The caption read "5:15 PM: Pampered in Paris #MKTimeless"
The image, which has reached nearly 230,000 likes, appeared on the feeds of michaelkors followers, but also came out on feeds of non-followers as a sponsored photo.
According to a report by AFP, other advertisers include Adidas, Lexus, PayPal, Burberry, and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.
"Facebook is carefully adding magazine-quality photo ads to Instagram as it hopes to bring in revenue from the service without alienating users," AFP said.
