Instagram rolled out its newest iteration yesterday, an update that lets users place their photos on a map. The move is clearly a push to Instagram users to tag their location on photos, which would create a very valuable signal for brands. The move could be a step toward actually creating ad space on Instagram, which doesn’t have an ad model yet. Oh, new Instagram owner Facebook could certainly use some help on the mobile ad front.
Instagram boasts 80 million users on its own and with the new rollout is courting brands. It could provide Facebook with a location-based service. Only this time, it’s in the form of pictures, not check-ins. Forbes wastes no time in saying this update puts Instagram into the media company category. In a New York Times article, Systrom said, “If people produce more geo-data and understand how it’s being used, we can do more with it. Wouldn’t you want to look at the London Olympics as it happens on Instagram?”
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