After years of people screaming at Instagram to allow them to add links to their posts and Reels, they’re finally giving in.


I don’t often agree with the moves that Mosseri and the rest of the IG team make, but the way they’re rolling out this feature actually makes a lot of sense.


Links Could Ruin Instagram

The problem they’re faced with is that links could ruin Instagram. The whole point of the platform is to create content that people actually want to see. If everyone was able to post links to anything that they wanted, the feed would quickly devolve into a mess of click-bait and CTAs.


Instead, IG is being very deliberate about who can post links, and how many.


How IG Links Work

The only users that have this new feature are either personal or professional Creator accounts that have paid to be Meta Verified, notably excluding Business profiles (at least for now). Once approved, they can post a maximum of 10 links per month. The links appear as in-line text in the post’s caption (example here).


This move effectively gives a massive amount of power to content creators.


Why That’s Important

Brands already tend to treat Instagram (and other channels) like a series of billboards. Despite years of social media managers trying to tell their bosses that you can’t build a following from a series of product photos, the majority of brand accounts still look like one ad after another.


Imagine how much worse that would get if those same accounts were allowed to link to their product pages.


Instead, a new dynamic has been created where Creators control the ability to drive traffic. At least in theory, creators are incentivized to build trust and engagement with their audiences, so if brands want to tap into that power, they will have to find interesting ways to partner with them.


When it comes to their own accounts, brands should be focusing on the types of content that builds their own relationships and tells their own stories, beyond last-click sales.


Of course, Meta is not doing this out of the goodness of its heart. Aside from the motivation to maintain a feed worth scrolling through, the Verified program drives a ton of revenue. By one estimate, there are about 30 million accounts paying $15/month right now, which works out to about $5.4 Billion in annual revenue.


If this experiment works, you can expect to see links rolled out to more Verified accounts shortly, just don’t expect them to be available to brand accounts anytime soon.