LOS ANGELES — Charles Porch said he was always a big fan of Instagram.
So it only made sense that one of the social media platform’s earlier adopters would go on to make an interesting suggestion to Instagram’s founder.
“I pitched Kevin Systrom about starting a partnerships team. He said ‘Who are you?’” Porch said jokingly.
Facebook had just acquired Instagram and, at the time, conversations around pop culture for the most part lived on Twitter. So why not move those conversations to Instagram, Porch asked. That was nearly six years ago when Instagram’s head of global partnerships began working on the division, still splitting his time on Facebook, where he led music and entertainment partnerships. Today, Porch heads the Instagram partnerships team, dividing his time in California between Menlo Park and the company’s Playa Vista office. It’s the latter that sits at the nexus of fashion, technology and entertainment, where it’s not uncommon for a celebrity or influencer to walk the halls of the highly Instagrammable — obviously — space.
“We make sure the biggest people, properties and events in the world have the best possible Instagram strategy,” Porch said. “The way to think about us is we are a team of basically consultants
Instagram’s Head of Partnerships Talks All Things Pop Culture, Los Angeles
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