Instagram has begun testing various ads that will allow users to shop for everything from clothing to menu items at local restaurants, integrating new iPhone features like 3D Touch and Apple Pay as well (via Digiday). The social network has had ads appear in users' feeds for a while now, but hopes that more unobtrusive shopping experiences that keep users in the app itself will attract bigger brands to the service.

instagram ads

“From an innovation standpoint, Instagram is where a lot of brands are putting the most eggs,” said an ad agency executive familiar with the tests. “Force touch gets interesting, because instead of quickly tapping Shop Now to buy this one thing, you can choose from two or three offers. It makes for more frictionless shopping.”

3D Touch integration will let users press harder on the ad to toggle between various selections from a clothing brand, for instance. The addition of Apple Pay aims to add to the "frictionless shopping" experience by letting users purchase something they see directly within Instagram, without having to visit the brand's own app or Safari to complete the purchase.

Instagram, owned by Facebook, is attempting to get a cut from the sales of many of the products that its service generates naturally, according to Digiday's sources. Some of those sources fear Instagram's commercialization due to the heavily-marketed advertisements being tested on the platform, suggesting the photo-focused service is best left as a "branding opportunity" for companies and leaving the sales portion to its parent site, Facebook.

Top Rated Comments

Rigby Avatar
125 months ago
Great, they found the killer app for 3D Touch: More ads. :rolleyes:
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nagromme Avatar
125 months ago
Could be cool: touch a photo too hard, realize you have inadvertently purchased a product that Instagram auto-detected in the image!

Peek, Pop, and now... Yoink!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
danielsutton Avatar
125 months ago
('https://www.macrumors.com/2015/11/06/instagram-begins-testing-ads/')


Instagram has begun testing various ads that will allow users to shop for everything from clothing to menu items at local restaurants, integrating new iPhone features like Force Touch and Apple Pay as well (via Digiday ('http://digiday.com/platforms/instagram-wants-make-shopping-ads-even-immediate-shop-now/')). The social network has had ads appear in users' feeds for a while now, but hopes that more unobtrusive shopping experiences that keep users in the app itself will attract bigger brands to the service.


Force Touch integration will let users press harder on the ad to toggle between various selections from a clothing brand, for instance. The addition of Apple Pay aims to add to the "frictionless shopping" experience by letting users purchase something they see directly within Instagram, without having to visit the brand's own app or Safari to complete the purchase.

Instagram, owned by Facebook, is attempting to get a cut from the sales of many of the products that its service generates naturally, according to Digiday's sources. Some of those sources fear Instagram's commercialization due to the heavily-marketed advertisements being tested on the platform, suggesting the photo-focused service is best left as a "branding opportunity" for companies and leaving the sales portion to its parent site, Facebook.

Article Link: Instagram Begins Testing Ads That Use Force Touch and Apple Pay ('https://www.macrumors.com/2015/11/06/instagram-begins-testing-ads/')
Edit: On iPhone, the pressure-sensitive feature is called 3-D Touch, not Force Touch. Please update the article :)

In my opinion, the MacBook's trackpad pressure-sensitive feature should Joe be renamed to 3-D Touch as well, to provide more consistency in naming.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
69Mustang Avatar
125 months ago
the only justification i think is that 'force touch' is a concept, '3D touch' is an implementation. For example its all called pizza, but there is deep dish, thin crust...
Force Touch is an implementation just like 3D Touch. A more likely reason is Apple can't use Force Touch in connection with a phone because Huawei has the rights to Force Touch relating to phones. Thus, 3D Touch was born.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
miknos Avatar
125 months ago
Never used Instagram but knowing that Facebook bought it, you can bet the service will become worse long-term.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jpgr15 Avatar
125 months ago
Ads... Not quite what I had in mind for developers making use of 3D Touch :confused::confused::confused:
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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