In a move that many anticipated when they were purchased by Facebook back on April 9, 2012, Instagram is crossing over into the world of advertising. In an announcement that came from Instagram directly via a blog post, the popular photo sharing company announced that it will start rolling out ads on the platform in the “next couple months.”

Initially focusing on brands that are already “great members” of the Instagram community, the company will deliver high-quality photos and videos from accounts you may or may not follow. As stated in the post, “seeing photos and videos from brands you don’t follow will be new, so we’ll start slow.”

The advertising will be integrated into the main structure of the Instagram platform in a non-intrusive way. “Our aim is to make any advertisements you see feel as natural to Instagram as the photos and videos many of you already enjoy from your favorite brands.”

The Instagram advertising program will allow brands and companies to pay for their photos and videos to appear in a user’s feed. Taking a page out of Facebook’s advertising options, users will be able to hide an ad they don’t like or they feel isn’t relevant to them.

What are your thoughts on this new advertising option from Instagram? We’d love to hear in the comments.

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