Facebook's Instagram takes on advertising Instagram, the photo-sharing service acquired by Facebook last year, is finally wading into advertising, marking the first moneymaking move by the three-year-old company. Paid photo and video ads will be introduced into users photo streams in the US over the next few months. "We'll start slow," Instagram said in a blog post. We have big ideas for the future, and part of making them happen is building Instagram into a sustainable business. Instagram has rapidly grown to 150m users in its short lifespan, gaining a worldwide following for its unique photo filters and easy upload to a variety of other social networks. Facebook bought the company in April 2012, just before its initial public offering, in a deal valued at $1bn at the time, demonstrating the premium which Facebook was willing to pay for mobile image sharing, amid sharp criticism that it had not adequately embraced the mobile migration of its users. Instagram has taken steps in the past year in preparation for launching its ads business. It altered its privacy policy and terms of service last December, causing a user backlash around fear that their photos could be reused for advertising. The company was forced to clarify and retreat on various changes. In June, it launched its short-form video format, to compete with Twitter's Vine service, and to satisfy marketers eager for more mobile video outlets. Companies have long been able to post photos on Instagram with no charge, but only users who had chosen to "follow" the brand's feed would see them. The new paid ads will be delivered to anyone. Advertisers will spend a total $8.8bn on mobile advertising this year, up 89 per cent compared to last year, according to eMarketer, while spending on social network ads is expected to reach $9.5bn worldwide. Instagram reassured users that ads would be "beautiful," "creative," and "enjoyable," and ended on a note about user photos for good measure. "As always, you own your own photos and videos," it said. The introduction of advertising won't change this.