In its seemingly inevitable march toward becoming another version of Facebook, Instagram recently confirmed that recommended posts will now be a part of what users see, further muddying already fragmented feeds. The reaction from most people has been negative, which is unsurprising.
The beauty of Instagram was once the simple, chronological feed that placed all people you followed on an equal stage, something most people embraced wholeheartedly. After the infamous introduction of the algorithmically sorted feed, users were generally livid over losing the ability to see the posts of everyone they followed easily, and as ads have infiltrated the platform, the app has become less and less organic and more likes something resembling Facebook. That trend is continuing, as recommended posts now appear at the bottom of user's feeds (it's unclear what constitutes the "bottom," as a feed typically scroll infinitely), as the company confirmed to Tech Crunch. The problem, of course, is that the app was once a relatively pure way of sharing photos, but with Facebook's acquisition of the company, the app has gradually become more and more like the former's platform, much to the frustration of many users. Unfortunately, the latest update shows that trend continuing unabated.
[via PetaPixel]
The point really diminishes as these companies stop showing us what we ASK to see. IG already doesn't show all of your followers each of your posts... Pretty lame to keep going in that direction by taking up space in the feed with things you're not even asking to follow...even IF IG thinks they have a good idea of what you want.
The explore page in my account is just FULL of crap all the time. They have no clue what I want.
Agreed! Mine is full of rappers and girls working out.............honestly don't care for either.
Yeah mine too and celebrity nonsense.
It's a lie to say it's about what the user wants. It's a place for them to throw the boosted post money people in. All about money now.
I noticed this a few days ago and that was the last straw for me. I uninstalled. The first straw was mixing up the feed with their algorithm instead of sorting by date/time. Now showing me "suggested posts", nah, I'm good. Oh well. It was good while it lasted. I'm not mad, I get it, all about dollars. But the service has just become less useful for my specific needs so I bounced. No regrets.
Cannot remember the lat time I was inspired by what I saw on Instabook.
It's the rise and fall of social media. I truly believe when companies start to get greedy for money and remove the simplification factor of their sites/apps...everything tends to go downhill. You think they would've learn from FB of yesterday and what it is today. They honestly lost a good chunk of my interest when chronological order became a thing of the past.
I think, now is the right time to search for replacement. I abandoned FB while ago because of crap all over my feed, politics, adverts and weird posts. IG was transparent and simple. Then they added stories, adverts and stupid algorithms to fill feed.
It makes complete sense when you remember that YOU are the product being sold on IG. If you're surprised or upset by what's going on, it's because you've forgotten this very basic premise.
Sad, I gave up on both Instagram & FB about a year ago once Instagram began inserting ads to my feed at a rate of 1 ad per every 5 or 6 images. And now this, what a shame. It was a great platform for sharing photography before Zuckerberg got his greedy little hands on it. I have an interest in photojournalism & it was a great way to follow the current work of some great PJs. A great source of inspiration for my own work. I miss it, FB however, don't miss it at all.
There cardinal rule of services like Facebook, Instagram, etc. is this - "If you pay for access/use of the site, you're a customer consumer of a product/service. If the access/use of the site is free, you are the product."
As a visual service, Instagram depends on eyeballs to borrow the line from Tyler Shields. They more eyeballs they can get to see their stuff, the more valuable it is. If you don't like it, don't use the service. That's the only way they'll change it. Because all the people who are mad about it, yet still using the app, are just supporting it because Instagram has no incentive to change. Your eyeballs are still targettable and reachable as long as you continue to use the site and thus they have NO incentive to revert this change.
Just cause someone has to say it, remember that there are actual photography dedicated media out there beyond the generic IG, FB, etc...