From Scrolling to Shopping: How Instagram’s New Features Overcame Ad Blindness

    Do you ever feel like you suffer from ad blindness on social media? We scroll past sponsored posts, convinced that a digital ad will never actually lead us to buy anything. But what happens when a platform like Instagram skillfully removes every step between seeing a product and purchasing it? Chapter 5 explains how features like Instagram Shop, Product Tags, and Product Detail Pages have made marketing much more effective. For me, this change wasn’t just an idea—I felt it firsthand.

    Before these new updates, I was a very difficult customer to target. I only went to online stores when I knew I needed to buy something specific. If an ad for a nice bag or a sweater caught my attention on Instagram, the process of buying it took too much effort and killed the impulse. I had to leave the app, search for the item on Google, and then compare prices. This extra "friction"—the need to do two extra steps of searching and navigating—almost always stopped me from making a purchase. The ad created interest, but it failed to complete the sale.

    The introduction of dedicated shopping tools completely changed this. The moment a business can put Product Tags right onto a photo, linking to a detailed page, the customer's effort drops to almost nothing. I realized how much these features help when I became the one making a purchase. I could simply tap a tag on a photo of a winter knit or a stylish tote bag and instantly see the price, sizes, and material details without leaving Instagram. This smooth experience—seeing the product and getting all the purchase details immediately—was exactly what convinced me to buy.

    This lack of effort made a huge difference. I’ve since used these in-app features to buy items, including a bag and a winter sweater, directly through the platform. It’s fascinating to study marketing ideas in Chapter 5 and then realize I was perfectly targeted by the exact strategy I was reading about. These new shopping features didn't just make marketing easier for businesses; they completely changed how I shop, turning me from someone who ignored ads into a person who actively buys.

    Adding these helpful tools, which include new technology like Augmented Reality Shopping, greatly increases how useful Instagram marketing is by making things easier for the customer. My own experience proves the theory: when it’s easy to buy something, people buy a lot more. By changing from simple "click-through" ads to integrated "tap-to-purchase" paths, Instagram has successfully closed the gap between seeing content and buying right away. This fundamental shift proves that friction is the ultimate enemy of commerce, and the platforms that eliminate it will continue to win the purchasing power of consumers.  

The Unexpected Art of Local America: A Day Trip to the Barberton Mum Festival

    Have you ever felt like you truly arrived in America, not in a bustling city or at a famous landmark, but in a quiet, unexpected small town? As an international student, my life often revolves around campus, but on a sunny Saturday, Sept. 27, I took a detour to Barberton, Ohio, to visit the hometown of my friend, Marissa. What started as a simple trip to a local flower show turned into a profound cultural and artistic discovery.

    Our destination was the annual Barberton Mum Festival. For those unfamiliar, the Mum Festival is Barberton’s signature event, known for showcasing thousands of cultivated chrysanthemums (mums). Yet, when we arrived, the atmosphere was less of a formal garden show and more of a warm community market. This instantly reminded me of the periodic markets in Korea—a place where people gather, not just to shop, but to connect.

 

    The late September heat was intense, but we quickly found relief. We picked up some iced tea, and I chose peach, served in an adorable cup. My international friends ordered the sweet and raspberry iced tea, and we were all impressed by how perfectly balanced and refreshing they were! They were not that sweet as I expected. It was delicious moment of relief in the heat.

    After enjoying the festival grounds, Marissa offered to give us a tour of the downtown area. I admit I had low expectations; I imagined a quiet street, similar to Ada. The reality was a complete shock. Barberton’s downtown was vibrant, packed with an unexpected variety of specialty stores and buzzing with energy. Walking down the main street, I saw the unique architecture and local life. I truly felt that rush of realizing, "I am finally in America."

    The most memorable discovery of the day happened when we spontaneously walked into an old, large building that turned out to be a massive antique store. I don't recall the name, but I won't forget the scale. The entire building was completely filled with every kind of antique imaginable. The second and third floors were partitioned into what felt like at least 10 separate rooms. Each room was curated with a unique theme, like individual galleries within a single building.

  

    We explored rooms devoted entirely to contemporary arts, others to historical and religious artifacts, and one corner overflowing with vintage clothes and accessories. Without any special intention or plan, this unassuming antique shop served as an museum, offering a dizzying, beautiful look at history and artistic expression from all over the world.

    My trip to the Barberton Mum Festival was a powerful reminder that the best parts of studying abroad often aren't planned. They happen when you follow a friend's lead and embrace the local, the small, and the unexpected. A simple town festival can lead to a moment of profound cultural realization and artistic discovery.