Get Ready For Ads To Invade Instagram Within A Year

Emily White, director of business operations at Instagram, shared the rough timeline with Rusli, but she didn't reveal what the ads will look like. She indicated that search ads, or ads in Instagram's "Discover" section, is an option.

It sounds like Instagram is just going to do what Twitter does. Twitter started lightly with some ads around trending topics and search. Eventually it started putting sponsored tweets right in the stream. Twitter's ads aren't that annoying or disruptive, you just scroll past them.

Similarly, we imagine a brand that takes a great Instagram-native photo could pay for it be in your feed.

Right now, however, Instagram doesn't even have the tools in place to measure the effectiveness of ads. Brands are going to want to know who is seeing the ads, and how often.

So, look for that stuff to either be built or acquired. And then, expect the ads.

If you're a user, this is okay news. You won't get ads in Instagram for at least a year. And when they do come, they might not be all that intrusive.

As White says, "We want to make money in the long term, but we don't have any short-term pressure."