Instagram will drop ads into your Explore feed
You can't escape marketing.
Ads are infiltrating seemingly every aspect of Instagram, and that now includes the Explore feed. The social network plans to roll out ads to Explore's photos and videos over the course of the "next few months." They'll function much like the ads in your main feed, complete with "shop now" links on some promos. You can still tailor the ads to what you'd like to see, and it's an opt-in feature for marketers.
This is bound to be annoying if you're used to Explore being an unsullied space. However, it's not at all shocking that Instagram would go this route. While regular ads are based more on your individual tastes, Explore ads can revolve around trends -- if there's a hot meme, marketers can seize the moment. That's good for both their bottom line and Instagram's, and they're not about to turn down the opportunity when more than half of users visit Explore at least once a month.
