Meta to allow for ads in 'Instagram search results' via its Marketing API

Meta-owned Instagram has announced that it now allows for advertisements in search results via its Marketing API (Application Programming Interface).

With this new addition, users will be able to update their app to enable their clients to create and preview ads in Instagram search results via API.

"Starting today, we now allow for ads in Instagram search results via the Instagram Marketing API. This new ads placement will be available on all current Marketing API versions, and does not require an upgrade," Meta said in a blogpost on Wednesday.

"This will not require the use of a new endpoint; the 'Instagram search results' placement option will be available via the current Marketing API endpoint you may already be familiar with, through the addition of the INSTAGRAM_SEARCH placement option," it added.

Moreover, the company said that this feature update will enable the three capabilities via the Marketing API -- ads creation, ads insights, and ad preview.

With 'ads creation', developers will be able to use "INSTAGRAM_SEARCH" as one of the placement options when creating ads, while 'ads insights will let users see how ads perform via Instagram search results placement when breaking down insights by placement level.

With 'ad preview', developers will be able to fetch the preview in the INSTAGRAM_SEARCH_CHAIN format.

Meanwhile, Instagram is set to take on Elon Musk-run Twitter with a similar micro-blogging text platform that is likely to be launched by the end of June.

The Twitter-like platform, "Instagram's new text-based app for conversations" is apparently codenamed P92 or Barcelona, according to Lia Haberman, who shared the news in her ICYMI Substack newsletter.