Fashion Retailers Are Using Instagram To Drive Sales

Social Media Insights is a daily newsletter from Business Insider that collects and delivers the top social media news first thing every morning. You can sign up to receive Social Media Insights here or at the bottom of this post.

---

Instagram CEO Sees Company Turning Into A Fashion Commerce Platform (TechCrunch)
Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom is seeing more and more retailers use the photo-sharing site for marketing merchandise. "We never set out thinking of Instagram as a platform for commerce, but in some ways Instagram is becoming that for folks in fashion," Systrom said at a fashion event in London. Systrom pointed out that retailers are posting photos of new merchandise, and then a flurry of followers will ask where they can purchase said items. Read >

Facebook Apologizes For Inappropriate Ad (AdAge)
An extremely distasteful ad promoting a dating website appeared on Facebook with a photo of a Canadian girl who hanged herself earlier this year. The image was scraped from the Internet by an advertiser and used in their campaign. Facebook removed the ad and apologized for the incident. Read >

Facebook Releases App For iOS 7 (Mashable)
Corresponding with the launch of iOS 7, Facebook's new iOS app launched Wednesday. The app's main navigation menu now appears at the bottom of the screen, and the tool bar that used to slide out from the left-hand side of the app has been removed entirely. Read >

Groupon Acquires Hotel Booking Service (TechCrunch)
Groupon has moved farther away from the daily deals industry with its latest acquisition of SideTour - a hotel booking marketplace. Read >

Facebook Likes Are Protected By The First Amendment (Wall Street Journal)
The Federal Appeals Court has ruled that a Facebook "like" is protected by the First Amendment because it is a form of speech. As such, whatever someone chooses to like on Facebook can't be held against them by say, an employer or a school. Read >

LinkedIn Goes To Court Against U.S. Government (LinkedIn Blog)
LinkedIn doesn't want to hide requests from the U.S. Government asking for data on its users. The company has gone to court seeking more transparency in the process. "Make no mistake, we deeply respect and support the U.S. government's strong interest in, and its obligation to protect, national security. However, this interest must be weighed against transparency and accountability," said LinkedIn General Counsel Erika Rottenberg. Read >