Autor: adv-admin

 

Over the past several weeks, Instagram’s latest changes have wreaked havoc on users and advertisers. With the chatter and debate intensifying, I sat down to take a look at the historical context, examine how we got here and contemplate its future.

The birth of Instagram 

Instagram was launched in 2010 as a simple way to edit and share photographs. The first iPhone had been introduced just three years prior. Although some early-model smartphones had the ability to take photos, the quality for the most part wasn’t that great. Additionally, there was no universally loved platform for sharing images of quality. Enter Instagram, which sought to overcome those two obstacles.  

In fact, as a result of the enhanced editing capabilities and filters, the phrase “Instagram vs. reality” was coined because the images posted were a stark contrast from reality. The new social media darling started to gain traction to the tune of a million users in the first few months.

The timeline of a child left unchecked 

By the time Instagram was only two years old it was acquired by Facebook for $1B. That’s when many folks in the industry began sounding alarm bells about the potential monstrosity that it could become, while others lauded the potential to monetize and grow it. 

Over the years, with little resistance from its users, Instagram began to behave as a child left unchecked. Optimizing and creating new revenue became top priority, which led to the highly criticized debut of Instagram Ads in 2015. Despite that, it pushed onward. After all, analysts had predicted that ads would help it to churn out over $2B in revenue, more than double the amount paid to acquire Instagram a half a decade earlier.

In 2018, Instagram’s user base had soared to a whipping 1B users and its revenues surpassed $6B. By the summer of 2020, it would introduce reels in an attempt to counter the growing popularity of its market rival, Tik Tok.  

Where we are now: the obnoxious teenage years

Now, at the age of 12, Instagram is estimated to be worth $100B. It’s like the obnoxious high school sports star. It seems to be able to get by with what it wants to because it is popular, but how long will that popularity last? 

Over half of the world now uses social media to communicate, and according to the Search Engine Journal, 84% of the population in the USA uses at least one. I have always recommended to focus primarily on one or two social media outlets, whether it is for a client or even in my own personal life. It’s simply not realistic that one will gain significant traction, or even utility, when trying to perform well across all social media platforms. 

And therein lies the rub: my preferred social media platform has always been Instagram, not TikTok. So it’s no surprise that weeks ago when Instagram started adjusting its algorithm that social media users revolted. Video content began to carry more weight, in addition to a plethora of unwanted ads and strangers showing up in our feeds. All of this was in a banal effort to become more like the competition, to be more like TikTok. If I wanted to dance around in my pajamas, film and share it, I’d be on TikTok.  

Even Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian, with their combined hundreds of millions of followers, posted a plea to “Make Instagram Instagram Again.” 

What it means for the future

There is absolutely no doubt among my colleagues and industry experts that the trend toward everything video will continue to take center stage. There will continue to be a strong focus on reels and ways for users to even more simply and intuitively create and share video content. 

I believe that in the coming years, for advertisers and influencers, Instagram will still continue to be a channel of choice for particular industries like architecture, travel and design. However, industries like fashion and entertainment will continue to see explosive growth on TikTok.  

While Instagram isn’t going away any time soon, if it doesn’t find a more effective way to differentiate itself from the competition while increasing its value proposition and relevance, the long-term future looks bumpy. On its current trajectory, it can only make incremental changes. These kinds of changes, like the recent introduction of favorites, an upcoming experiment with testing ultra-tall 9:16 photos in post feeds and even the possible introduction of NFT avatars for profiles may satisfy current users, but will not do anything to attract new users. 

In light of Instagram’s recent adjustments to its algorithm that made it appear more like a TikTok clone, it’s apparent that the social media industry is quickly becoming not only a competitive, bloody red ocean, but a sea of sameness where it is nearly impossible to differentiate between products. 

It leaves one to wonder if Instagram will make it through the rest of its bumpy teen years and live to become 20? 

And we are off to the races, folks! 

Recently, Binance introduced Binance NFT, a marketplace for NFTs and digital collectibles. As a part of this initiative, it launched the “100 Creators“ program to spotlight local talent from around the world. 

Yet on that very same day, Michael Winkelmann, the American digital artist known as Beeple, introduced the cleverly named WENEW platform with the aim of becoming the “premier curator and provisioner of iconic moments.” WENEW is auctioning off historic and iconic moments across categories like sports, politics, history and fashion. The first auction, featuring NFTs as well as tangibles from tennis legend Andy Murray, generated over a quarter a million dollars in sales.  

Even the Israeli parliament has jumped on the bandwagon. It will become the first to lend the elected president the oath of office declaration in the form of an NFT. The country’s new president is set to receive the digital version of the original oath signed by his father.

How are NFTs unlocking new value? 

Blockchain technology allows a digital asset to be unique and not interchangeable or, importantly, counterfeitable. Therefore, NFTs represent a significant advancement for the preservation and sale of items such as photos, video, audio or any other type of digital work. Because still to this day digital works have been easy to copy, transfer and sell. And, most oftentimes, this hasn’t done anything to benefit the original artist or creator. With the introduction of NFTs, new value has been created for artists and creators because their original works cannot be digitally pirated. 

For the end-consumer value is created through the resulting uniqueness and authenticity that has been previously unavailable with any digital product. As Beeple himself said in a recent interview: “Everybody’s [asking], What gives NFTs value? And it’s really no different than any other medium, whether that be music or paintings. It’s the emotional connections we have that gets to people.”

„Everybody’s [asking], What gives NFTs value? And it’s really no different than any other medium, whether that be music or paintings. It’s the emotional connections we have that gets to people.“

—Mike Winkelmann, aka Beeple

Global is the new local.

NFTs have opened up a whole new frontier of possibilities across myriad industries. And, in many ways, it is remindful of the initial propagation of the Internet: similarly, crypto and NFT early adopters and first-movers will be poised to become the biggest and most successful.

At advertia digital, we are currently working on several NFT projects, primarily related to branding and web design. Alongside this, however, we are starting to experiment more and more through space_pace, our startup and idea studio, and a dedicated NFTLABS division. 

NFTLABS was created in response to several projects we are either helping with or inventing within the NFT sphere. Some, like iMucha, are dedicated to art, some to collecting, but we also see a lot of potential in 3D design and interactivity itself. Having the opportunity to work with Binance NFT and its 100 Creators program has helped give us a great overview and helpful insights. 

Perhaps most importantly, all of these projects are always built as global — which is a huge strength of all digital projects — as it seems that global is indeed the new local. 

Not for everyone.

Just like one shoe does not fit all, NFTs are not for everyone. They just don’t fit into certain business models or types of communication.

What are some of the most popular NFTs?

Here’s a brief snapshot of some of the industries that have jumped on the trend and the products they are creating: 

Art

iMucha 

Alphonse Mucha leapt to fame in Paris in 1895 where he became recognized as the pre-eminent exponent of French Art Nouveau. Now his works are being given new life, prominence and value through NFTs.

Filip Hodas 

Also known as Hoodass, this popular Czech artist has subtly worked his way to the top of the world in 3- and 4-D visuals. He mints on prestigious platforms such as SuperRare or Nifty Gateway. Nowadays, their wait lists amount to several months and his NFTs sell for tens of ETH.

Pablo & Frida

Pablo & Frida creates 3-D renders of gallery exhibitions for their reuse in virtual reality. In the future, galleries will be empty and visitors will be able to choose an exhibition through which they can virtually tour and walk.

Entertainment and Gaming

Cryptokitties 

Tapping into the cat craze, Cryptokitties allows players to purchase, collect, breed and sell virtual cats. It has generated tens of millions of dollars in transactions. 

Decentraland 

Decentraland is an online space that combines virtual reality with blockchain technology. Players have direct control over the rules of the online world. NFTs represent in-game commodities like art, as well as clothes and other items like virtual real estate.

Merchandise and collectibles

LVMH

The LVMH group is looking to NFTs as a way to confirm the authenticity of luxury goods. 

Nike

Nike has patented CryptoKicks: digital sneakers that could function as NFTs. 

Travel

Although something we’ve yet to see implemented, NFTs could be used as vessels for delivering items of value that are related to travel and tourism brands. Such a line of  NFTs would serve as a type of permanent souvenir that generates an air of brand nostalgia, uniqueness and even demand. Travel and tourism NFTs could be distributed to those who are currently traveling as a symbol of appreciation as well as to loyalty club members and even armchair travelers. Alternatively, it could be utilized to incentivize travel or simply offered for sale as a limited edition item. Think of it as the future version of the KLM porcelain Delft houses. 

„I personally see NFT as the standard for the future. It can be expected that when real icons enter the NFT space, the whole ecosystem will suddenly have a quality, vision and direction.„

—Honza Borysek, CEO & Strategy, advertia digital

In the very near future, amazing projects will arise.

The digital playing field of the future looks very different than that of today. It will not consist of a rigid hybrid of winners and losers. Rather, it will consist of multiple, large distribution platforms like Amazon where millions of merchant creators will distribute and sell their NFT-based products.  

And with the inevitable introduction of new cryptocurrencies like Worldcoin, which aims to make crypto accessible to every individual on the planet, NFT-based products and services are destined to become more readily available, more intuitive, more interesting and, of course, more lucrative. 

The NFT tsunami is coming. Are you prepared?