Instagram Prepares to Introduce Advertising to Users

Instagram, which is not really primarily designed to advertise, is rumored to be preparing the app to introduce it into advertising within the next year.

The idea came from Emily White, a former Facebook employee turned chief operating officer for Instagram. She had a meeting, which the Wall Street Journal detailed, with chief executive and co-founder Kevin Systrom.

White recalled, "For the first two weeks, I locked him into a conference room and I said, 'This is all about getting the mission on paper.’"

After a couple of weeks, Systrom had created Instagram’s aim to one lofty phrase: “to capture and share the world’s moments,” -- a principle in which Instagram now could sell to its members, users and future advertisers.

White had worked her magic in turning Instagram into a company worth a billion dollar for acquisition but realized that the company is not earning as much as its worth. Systrom, still makes the final decisions, but White is in charge for courting brand marketers and placing the foundation for promotion.

White’s goal is to find out how to incorporate marketing without endangering Instagram’s cool look.

Instagram, when White moved in, has no business outline. To get everything in order, White reviewed every business function in the organization. Under White’s leadership, the team cataloged every chief brand-marketer account on Instagram – like Ford Motor, Co., Williams-Sonoma, Inc, and Coca-cola, Co. -- which she met and had meetings last week.

Instagram’s huge risk now, after year without ads, is pushing away its users.

Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research Group told Wall Street Journal, "Theoretically, [Instagram] could be making hundreds of millions of dollars today, but they would need a big sales force and they would risk polluting the environment."

White said she wanted to avoid committing Facebook’s mistakes with advertisers so she regularly consults Facebook’s top executives.