Instagram Looks To Highlight Creative Talent With New Awards

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Instagram is rolling out a new award for creators, which aims to showcase creativity and talent within IG content.

Though the promotional material makes it look more like a horror movie than an aspirational initiative.

Design choices aside, Instagram says that its new “Rings” awards will look to provide a platform for genuine creative talent, as opposed to trend-chasers and algorithm acolytes.

As explained by Instagram:

“One theme we hear from creators all over the world is the excitement and nervousness that come with making something and putting it out into the world. It takes courage to chase an idea, quiet that inner critic, and create anyway. This award is for the creators who don’t just participate in culture - but shift it, break through whatever barrier holds them back to realize their ambitions. Because every act of creativity, big or small, can lead to something great.”

In order to identify true creative talent, Instagram has gathered a panel of renowned creators to pick out award winners.

I’m not sure how Instagram chief Adam Mosseri is rated as a great judge of creativity and talent, or rugby star Ilona Maher. But sure.

This panel of experts will each nominate their own picks for top Instagram talent, and the winners will then be recognized with a gold ring on their profile, as well as a real, physical gold ring, created by designer Grace Wales Bonner.

So you can’t actually enter this competition, creators will simply be selected by this panel, and they get recognition in the app, via this new gold ring display, while winners will also be able to customize their profile backdrop color and “put their own twist on the ‘like’ button.” Whatever that means.

It’s an interesting concept, though the lack of entry options makes it less of an incentive for creators to join, with the recognition more being about existing creative talent, who are already active in the app. So as a driver of creator engagement, it doesn’t seem like a major boost, though the opportunity to be recognized by these judges could be a strong lure.

But you have to have an IG presence already, and a range of posts in the app. So not sure it’s going to have much of an impact on boosting activity, but then again, the whole point, as IG notes, is to highlight genuine creative talent within the app, for a range of reasons.

So will it matter? I guess, the gold ring will have a level of exclusivity and prestige that will get the recognized creators more attention, and that may end up being a big opportunity in some respects. But in general, I don’t know that this is going to have a big impact, unless Instagram itself goes to extra effort to promote and showcase the winners in various forums.

Maybe then it’ll have a cumulative impact over time, as more people come to respect this as a true recognition of creative talent in the app. But initially, I suspect it’ll be seen as an oddity, which will take a while to gain broader recognition and respect.