I was doing my pre-bedtime social media run through tonight when I opened up the Instagram app and saw what looked to me like an official Instagram announcement. I clicked on it because there’s no harm in that, but lo! I was directed to an app in the Google Play Store. I couldn’t believe it, so I took a screenshot and sent it to my fellow writers – they couldn’t believe it either.
After a few refreshes, it was gone. I thought I was seeing things, so I did a quick search on Twitter. Seems like I wasn’t the only one:
Photo: What is this? An app ad in instagram that leads to a broken market link? I think it’s not the actual… http://t.co/PEp0tyBvp6
— Moot Scicle (@mootscicle) July 24, 2014
I just saw an ad for some random app on Instagram. An ad. Please stop. — jonathan (@jmottola) July 24, 2014
Dear @instagram We do NOT need this stupid app ad at the top of our timeline for Introducing Bolt pic.twitter.com/CGW0wLHzr5 — Karen (@karenkaren82) July 24, 2014
This might be the end of Instagram as we knew it…
UPDATE: According to speculation from multiple sources, it might have actually been a premature announcement. Instagram is reportedly launching the Bolt app soon as a Snapchat competitor.
