No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram

by Sarah Frier

Despite efforts to market Instagram through its model users, the company still didn’t publicly approve of them accepting money to promote products. 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 posting about it. Celebrities were advised to present themselves as relatable and vulnerable, just as advertisers were told to only submit promotions that were aesthetically pleasing, with no price tags. Instagram employees did want their product to be commercially important, to be big and successful and competitive with Twitter, to contribute meaningfully enough to Facebook that they wouldn’t be swallowed up and ruined by the larger company. It was just better if it looked effortless. No journalist would be asked to profile Charles Porch or the community team; instead, the wins were the magazine covers that featured Instagram photos or users.