Is Vero the Best Alternative to Instagram?

I would fully endorse any viable alternative to Instagram, however Vero is too closely associated with Russian interests for my comfort

I watched Pat's video last night so I have had all day to think about this.

I left Insta (I still have my page online but inactive) over two months ago and I realised within one week that I should have left long before. Perhaps a recent text by psychologist Jenika McDavitt says it better than I could. She talks about Insta and other such platforms as tools and says we need to consider them as such. When a tool no longer serves our purpose often we have a problem letting go. She outlines three psychological factors which make it difficilt - 1: The Streetlight Effect, 2: The Sunk Cost Effect and 3: the Mere Exposure Effect. I would suggest taking a look at them.

In about five years on Insta, it bought me (directly) zero "clients" (I was semi professional). It brought me excellent contact and friendship (the real type) with other wonderful professionals in the field and I do so miss the daily contact with them, however, because I worked at those friendships, they are not lost entirely.

Now that I am retired I have other priorities and while Vero will not answer all of those, at the end of this month I am going to open an account there (also on Grainery)... not because it it looks so much better (the photographs certainly do) but because there are almost none of the things that have made me so unhappy with Insta recently: the bots, ads, Reels (video is handled very nicely), shadow-bans, the algorithm. Pat likes the algorithm, obviously it works for him... it has never worked for me, nor for many aspiring photographers I know.... for many, it is simply heartbreaking.

There was one point in Pat's video regarding the CEO of Vero reaching out to him through a post regarding his critique of the platform that drew my attention more than others; he found it to be a sign that the platform was "small" and I gathered from that, perhaps insignificant. But perhaps to put this in perspective we could think of a petition led by a top-rated internationally renowned photographer which collected I think almost half a million signatures that was what it took for the CEO of Instagram to announce that they were "reconsidering" (some of the) recent changes to the famous, or infamous algorithm. The CEO of Vero answered Pat's complaints directly one by one and informed him that the improvements he suggested were already in the pipeline. He didn't need a petition signed by almost half a million people to announce "we'll think about it".

Fifteen second summary? I generally don't do videos.

Anyone using Zonerama? What thinketh thou?

Instagram used to be a good platform when Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger owned it. But when Mark Zuckerberg bought the platform, it started to go downhill despite of mainstream media hype about the platform's popularity. Instagram turned into Facebook 2.0, and it continues to lose its identity with stolen features. With the addition of the algorithm, it makes things harder for a lot of creative minds to be seen unless that person is already well known and other shallow things. Instagram is way too corporate and too toxic these days. Even Instagram should not be use for business. This is a company run by Meta (Facebook), and Meta has such a very bad business practices and legal problems. How can people think they can use Instagram and Facebook for business when both companies have way too many business problems and legal problems? Whoever thinks these platforms are good for business really has been misinformed. Even relying on these platforms for everything is so cheap.

No user on IG and FB is benefitting off these platforms. The only ones who are benefiting it are the jerk owner who is also a criminal and the criminal shareholders. It is all about profits to them! Nothing else! Instagram and Facebook are making profits off of ads, data, the users, etc. Meanwhile, the users are too busy chasing after popularity, numbers, and other high school level garbage that are being encouraged by the company. People are being too distracted by social media that gives them nothing but an online shallow world or a fantasy world. Social media is not revolutionizing anything. It is not making the world a better place. And meanwhile, the real world is in deep trouble; and how many people are very concern about it? Not too many! People need to stop being so positive about Instagram and think that the company is much different than its parent company Facebook. Both of them share the same harsh policies! Just recently, Instagram had to pay a fine in Ireland because it was caught collecting Irish children's data! How sick that is?!