This week, Instagram announced that it will be expanding its editorial team–hiring reporters to cover its community–an expansion of the coverage of Instagram stars already featured by staffers on the company blog.
One recent story, a 160-word piece about how official Seahawks photographer Rod Mar approaches his craft, appeared on Instagram’s blog on Super Bowl Sunday. By Monday afternoon, it had garnered over 1,000 notes and given Mar’s following a boost.
The hires are a sign that Instagram is trying to generate its own promotion–its own sponsored content–by way of experienced journalists; its call for editors requests applicants with eight-plus years of experience working on “feature essays from established writers…for a singular voice publication destined for a global audience.”
But as previous about-faces by Tumblr and Twitter have shown, the path from social platform to self-referential publisher can be treacherous, especially when there are journalists involved. Both companies hired journalists to help branding efforts, and both later decided it was a bad plan. Dan Fletcher, a journalist from Bloomberg News, only lasted 15 months at Facebook. Hired to be its managing editor, Fletcher quit after he found out the role was actually a brand-marketing position.
In an interview with Digiday, Jessica Bennett, the journalist who edited Tumblr’s one-year journalism initiative, expressed skepticism at the company’s commitment to editorial content. “What Tumblr really wanted was cheerleaders, and from the perspective of the company, I actually get that,” she said. “Hiring journalists to do marketing makes sense: we’re good storytellers. But those journalists need to understand that what they’re being set up to do is marketing.”
Meanwhile, reactions on Twitter to the announcement were mixed. Some seemed stirred by the prospect of jobs. Some seemed wary that Instagram’s venture would be able to avoid the fate of Tumblr’s. And others were fatalistic, perceiving the company’s language as fluff, and its bid to hire serious journalists as a dire sign of the times.
Despite its call for editors, “Instagram is not yet planning to expand its operation beyond its current blog or to move into longer, more substantive pieces,” Spokesperson Liz Shepherd told Digiday, which reported that the company is, “not entering Medium’s territory and becoming a true platform-publisher hybrid. But it does see an editorial infrastructure as integral to the platform’s success.” Instagram did not respond to a request for comment from CJR.
The response to the Rod Mar post suggests that covering its community could be an effective way for Instagram to increase its user engagement. And for a company that still hasn’t turned a profit for parent-company Facebook, increasing user engagement is the holy grail.
Still, AdWeek blogger Chris O’Shea took umbrage at what he saw as another attempt to make branded editorial appear independent by appealing to journalists, and felt compelled to set the record straight. “Anyone who applies for these jobs is being hired to promote Instagram. Nothing more, nothing less. If that sounds like fun to you, then have at it. On the bright side, like advertising, it probably pays more than journalism.”
Damaris Colhoun is CJR’s digital correspondent covering the media business. A reporter at large in New York, Colhoun has also written for The Believer, The New York Times, The Guardian, and Atlas Obscura. Find her on Twitter @damarisdeere.