Instagram: I told you, it’s an e-commerce play
Facebook moves two steps closer to making its more beloved property a place to hang out and buy things.
Two new developments out of Menlo Park this past week validate what I wrote in July: Facebook knows they’ve failed to transform their flagship network from an advertising medium into a platform for e-commerce. They’re looking to Instagram instead to be the place where people buy things.
News last week that Facebook is developing a messaging app for Instagram users to communicate with others on their Instagram app’s Close Friends list was seen mostly as an “assault on SnapChat,” which already has messaging among its users. But if you view Instagram as a budding place to shop, messaging is a means to keep users hanging around the mall instead of going elsewhere to chat.
An Instagram-coupled messaging app would wrap users and their friends in an enveloping space they might rarely leave, with so many friends there. Just as important, merchants know how and where to reach them to get them to come buy on Instagram — they’re already there!
Unlike Facebook’s flagship social network, Instagram has had none of the trust-eroding scandals around security and privacy that got Mark Zuckerberg hauled before Congress for a grilling, nor does it have a reputation for creeps and scammers that would make anyone wary of clicking Buy. In fact, a CBS poll last year found half of Americans didn’t know Instagram was owned by Facebook. That’s by design. Compare Skype, whose login screen proudly sports a Microsoft badge, to Instagram whose entire press website for journalists makes not a single mention of its corporate parent even though Instagram’s head office is part of Facebook’s campus. Shh!
The other proof of Facebook’s intent for Instagram is the rollout of tools for businesses on Messenger — lead generation chatbots, customer service links, even appointment-making tools for salons and other real-world services. It’s likely that the new Instagram messaging, reportedly called Threads, will debut with these features.
It’s a great strategy. Instagram, home of beautiful influencers and photos of pretty things, has none of the endless-argument baggage that makes Facebook a buzzkill for retail therapy. It’s a natural marketplace for health and wellness or beauty products and services. For many people I know, Instagram is a place to get away from the madness on Facebook and Twitter. If it were a real world location, it would be a natural site to build a shopping center and a spa.
I’m sure Facebook will never give up pushing e-commerce on the network that bears its name. But with Instagram, Facebook’s executives, designers and engineers have something they’ve surely wanted for a long time: A chance to start over.
