Instagram Plans to Evolve into a Business Platform

From purely entertaining social media, Instagram slowly turns into a business hub, adding more features for both businesses and consumers. You no more boast your food photos, but rather buy it or sell it. Two new features introduced by Instagram recently make it an even more attractive environment for eCommerce. 

The first of these features is “Find Product via Instagram Camera”. This AI-assisted search function was announced in June 2021, and now it starts rolling out. The way it works is similar to Google Lens. As you launch the camera in the Instagram app and aim it at a product, the cloud engine will identify it and search for this product or its analogs on market. Given how many businesses are there on Instagram now, the search may be among the most efficient by now. There is no need to search for a barcode or a QR code by now.

The second feature makes maps in Instagram great again. While boasting the place one has visited is no more a thing, now the location is for businesses. You can discover popular places nearby and see stories and posts made in certain locations around you. This location-based service will make Instagram a great place for tourists. The “Map Search” icon will appear at the bottom of the Discovery tab.

These new features will make Instagram an even more powerful business platform and a rival to TripAdvisor and Google Lens. Now even the content you post for fun may become a business tool, and your reviews in cafes and restaurants, beaches, and museums will become useful by people you don’t even know that happened nearby.

If you are a business owner, how do you plan to benefit from these features? As a customer, will you rely on camera search, and will you search places around on Instagram rather than good old Foursquare and TripAdvisor? Tell us what you think about it in the comments!