In half a decade, Instagram, the Facebook-owned picture-sharing network, has become one of the fastest growing social networks in South Africa and the world.
Over 80 million photos are shared every day on Instagram and it was recently announced the platform has over 400 million active users.
It has grown rapidly over the past three years. Last month, the South African Social Media Landscape 2016 study showed Instagram more than doubled its user numbers this year in SA. Instagram grew locally from 1.1 million in 2014 to 2.68 million users in 2015.
Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion and has been slow to monetise the app. It recently expanded its platform to all advertisers, rather than a select few, and is expected to make up to $2.8 billion in advertising revenue in 2017, according to eMarketer, a research firm.
In a blog post, the Instagram team highlighted the biggest changes to its advertising model over the past half-decade, as it celebrated its fifth birthday this week. Originally, the social network did not feature advertising.
1. October 2013: Ads make an appearance
The first adverts to appear were from Michael Kors and General Electric. Levi's, Lexus, Burberry, Macy's, Ben and Jerry's, Starwood, Adidas and Paypal followed. At this point, ads were only made available to large brands with large budgets.
2. October 2014: Video ads
Last year, Instagram launched 15-second video ads. One of the first video advertisers was Banana Republic, with a series of video spots featuring moving fashion sketches.
3. April 2015: Carousel ads
Carousel ads allowed for advertisers to put multiple images in one ad. Users could scroll through the images from left to right.
4. June 2015: New ad formats
Video adverts can now be up to 30-seconds long and adverts can appear in landscape and portrait. These new ad formats were designed to help businesses drive a variety of objectives; from Web site clicks and video views, to mobile app installs.
5. September 2015: Ads available for all businesses everywhere
Instagram opened ads for businesses ? big and small ? in over 200 markets around the world.
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