Hello so I have been using Instagram for a while and I always question that how do they make money?
It's a free application and also it does not show any advertisement. So how does the business run?
Facebook is now the owner of Insta. But Insta doesn't show any ads, so how they can afford to manage?
Also the products you see in the people you follow are ads. Especially the high profile people. Eg. jlaws perl necklace sure looks cool
I see.
Instagram definitely shows ads. They look similar to posts but will be marked as ads. We recently created a new ad campaign for ChoiceCheapies and Instagram was included as one of the mediums.
Instagram shows ads! I see ads all the time
I never saw an advertisement on Instagram.
Lucky you - soon they are introducing Instagram Business so enjoy your ad free browsing while you can.
now I start seeing ads. XD
So if I plan to start a business like Instagram (just imagine). Do I hire an app development company to make me an app? Or I need to make an officie and then hire app developers?
What might be an approximate cost to make such app/business?
You need to sell your idea to people with money first.
And make them partners?
You are not partners with investors…they are stakeholders of your company. I. E. They own part of the corporation.
Tens of thousands or even into hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on complexity for custom app from an app development company.
Oh that sums it all up. Thanks for very clear explanation. But what if I don't know coding should and get some to develop an app?
The information you voluntarily give them while using the app is valuable to advertisers. All the content (photos/videos), GPS location data, hash tags, comments belong to Facebook once you post them. They can trawl the data using data mining tools and sell the insights generated to advertisers looking to connect better with their target audience. In the future (or maybe even already), they could use image processing tools to gather useful data by analysing the photos themselves.
In summary as many have said before, if you are not paying for the service, then YOU are the product being sold.