After teasing the function late final month, Instagram announced on Monday that anybody—verified influencer or in any other case—can tag manufacturers and merchandise of their posts.

Adding the tags appears easy sufficient, as Instagram’s weblog lays out: The subsequent time you wish to make it appear like Dasani or Poland Spring and even Hydro Flask is sponsoring your low-res photograph of a water bottle, simply transfer previous the filtering and enhancing screens, and hit the “Add tag” button that crops up below the photograph. Tag that sucker with the bottle model of your selection (or, nicely, something actually), hit the “Products” tab in the proper hand nook, and cycle by way of the ensuing checklist till you discover the bottle/product that’s presumably in your photograph. Maybe you wish to tag Shein within the night time’s match or HomeGoods in your lounge decor. Once you’re performed, simply faucet the photograph so as to add the tag, and bam, there you go—you’ll have a kind of tags smack dab on the center of your photograph, similar to your favourite influencer. And similar to these posts, Instagram says that after a consumer faucets the identify of that product, they shall be directed by way of a “product detail page” the place they can purchase these wares instantly within the app.

What’s much less clear is why, precisely, you’d wish to tag these manufacturers. In its announcement, Instagram notes that creators and influencers have used these tags to “[share] how they use and style their favorite products on Instagram and inspiring their communities,” and that ostensibly, through the use of these similar tags, you may “inspire” your followers, too.

But spon-con serves a fairly particular goal, and it’s not “inspiring.” It’s getting paid. Most of the promoted merchandise you’re seeing in your feed are driving money into the pockets of the creators selling, say, a selected water bottle or a sure model of eyeliner, by way of Instagram’s affiliate program. When gross sales get made by way of the platform’s affiliate hyperlinks, creators get a reduce of the full revenue—and presumably Instagram does, too.

While these tags have now rolled out to everybody, the associates program hasn’t, and which means the digital checks haven’t both. Though this system debuted last summer, the web page for it says nonetheless that it “is not yet widely available,” and that influencers-to-be ought to “check back [on the page] for updates!” So, in the interim, it appears to be like just like the newly introduced tagging program is only a approach to muddle your feed with extra branded content material, however at no cost.

We’ve reached out to Instagram about these new tags, however the firm hasn’t issued a response but. Personally, we’d counsel steering clear. If you’re going to be bringing manufacturers into your “inspirational posts,” the least you are able to do is earn just a few {dollars} from it.