There was a time when Instagram was just a photo platform. Well that was until Facebook or Meta, took it over and do what they do best; run things into the ground for the sake of ads and revenue. The upheaval for Instagram’s latest update has doesn’t nothing but ring the death knell for this once popular social media app.
Facebook was a stolen idea from the beginning. So it seems to believe that every idea they’ve ever had has been stolen. Instagram stories, reels and so on have all been stolen, I mean mimicked from other platforms. Facebook is as original as a Mark Zuckerberg’s wardrobe.
Now with Instagram’s latest update, Instagram has gone full speed into it’s transition to TikTok, I mean as a sole video content provider. Photos and photographers can take a back seat. It’s full video all the time sprinkled in between all those ads and other account’s you don’t follow posts.
Oh you want to only see the certain people’s posts? It’s bad enough you already follower them, but now you have to follow them and then add them again as a favorite. Can someone make sense of that for me?
Instagram isn’t the Product, You Are
You read that right. You’re not the consumer, you’re the product. Meta, Facebook or whoever they want to be are selling you through Instagram to their consumers. Your data, actions, buying patterns is what is being sold. Their goal isn’t content creation, it’s to keep you coming back over and over and interacting with all their sponsors, ads etc. They could careless about the photo you took from a wedding. Their only goal is to keep you engaged with their app and Meta felt with Instagram’s latest update to videos is what people want.
Who doesn’t love seeing the same TikTok dance on TikTok then on Instagram stories then reels and then that reel is turned into a post. Everyone is just craving all those videos of people lip synching words from shows or movies. Milli Vanilli was about 30 years too early.
What Should Businesses Do Now?
Adapt or accept that Instagram is no a viable option to get your content out. And honestly with all of social media melting together into one big post of videos it might be time to think outside of social media if you haven’t already.
If you do decide to venture into video only, good luck. There is nothing wrong with video, the good luck is getting your content seen. Every other post on Instagram these days are either ads or posts from people you don’t follow. Your ROI is going to drop faster than a James Harden flop. So if you do have a sizeable following, it’s likely that they will never see what you’ve posted.
Online Petitions or Protests are Pointless
I know there are online petitions going around gathering signatures to ask Instagram to go back to what it was, but Meta doesn’t care about what you want. They never have and never will. They only care about selling your data and collecting ad money. Oh you want chronological order back, how cute. They don’t care as along as their ads are being shoved down your throats and you continue to buy products from them. Remember you’re not the consumer but the product. They don’t care about what you want. They know you’ll keep coming back no matter how much you complain.
In the end Instagram’s latest update is nothing more than one foot in the grave for the once popular social media app. I think as a whole social media apps are dying as they all try to be like each other.
Facebook is where the old people go to post their conspiracy ideas. Instagram use to be a photo sharing app and TikTok is where everyone does the same dumb challenges and lip syncs while Twitter is where every goes to complain about it all.
Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash