Instagram Rolls Out Web Profiles, Increases Reach For Music Marketing
Yesterday Instagram announced the rollout of web profiles. Though Instagram photos appear in many places on the web, Instagram itself has been closed to web browsing. Having demonstrated the power of focusing on mobile, this move will increase the usefulness of what has already become an essential service for savvy musicians and music marketers.
Instagram's announcement of web profiles should be good news for all Instagram users who'd like a wider reach. Not only does it make photos more readily accessible, it also introduces a social network aspect to the website:
"You can share your own profile with anyone you want to see your Instagram photos. In addition, web profiles provide an easy way to follow other users, comment & like photos, and even edit your profile directly from the web."
thornybleeder (Brian Thompson) on Instagram
According to Instagram's Help Center, you will have privacy controls and the ability to block specific users with Instagram profiles. Though your profile can and likely will be indexed by search engines, they will not be allowed to index individual photos.
Instagram will remain mobile-centric. For example, you still have to use the app to sign up for an account.
Profiles are not yet available to everybody but they're coming soon:
"To see your profile, or to explore a friend’s profile, simply navigate to instagram.com/[username]. For example, in order to view Nike’s profile, @nike, you’d navigate to instagram.com/nike on the web. If you don’t see your profile yet, be assured that you’ll see it in the next few days. We’re rolling out profiles to everyone on Instagram over the course of this week."
Opening up Instagram in this manner should be a great boost for the service as well as for musicians who want to share what they're doing with as wide a range of viewers as possible.
Instagram is a free app for iOS and Android.
More:
- How To Market Music With Instagram Photo Sharing
- Instagram Surpasses Twitter In Daily Active Mobile Users
- Chirpify Expands To Instagram For In-Stream Commerce
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (Twitter/App.net) blogs about music crowdfunding at Crowdfunding For Musicians (@CrowdfundingM). To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
