Brands overall were paying about $100 million—an experimental sum—for the new kind of work in 2014, but the industry was about to explode. As the Instagram user guidelines stated, in a tone as if talking to a child: “When you engage in self-promotional behavior of any kind on Instagram, it makes people who have shared that moment with you feel sad inside.… We ask that you keep your interactions on Instagram meaningful and genuine.” “Meaningful and genuine,” in this case, just meant that any kind of branding had to look unforced, like it had been an organic decision on the part of the person
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