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The Instagram debate: ‘suicide note’ or sensible policy? The Drum looks at what is happening at the photo-sharing website

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By Ishbel Macleod, PR and social media consultant

December 19, 2012 | 3 min read

Facebook-owned Instagram yesterday announced changes to its terms and conditions, following a statement from Carolyn Everson, VP of global marketing solutions at Facebook, saying "Eventually we'll figure out a way to monetise Instagram."

The updated terms and conditions included the paragraph: "To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you.”

However, Instagram has

A $1bn acquisition in Facebook's IPO year will be expected to start proving its worth pretty soon.

Anti Instagram

Joe Tree, CEO and founder of Blipfoto, which allows users to share their lives one picture a day, says it is no surprise the update makes users feel ‘a little uneasy’.

The problem with this astronomically priced purchase [of Facebook buying Instagram] is that, sooner or later, Instagram - like its new owner - was going to have to start making money. And with yesterday's announcement that it would now have the rights to sell your images without your knowledge, sooner seems to be the case.

All the big social networks have built huge audiences this way, but at huge cost and with no proven, profitable business model.

Our information, our pictures and our habits are the commodity the giant social networks thrive on. This approach isn't always wrong, but it’s still not a proven method of making a social network viable as a sustainable business - and given the early backlash facing Instagram today, it isn't always right either. And without that viability its future is uncertain.

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