Instagram used to be a go-to social media platform for artists sharing their art. However, recent changes such as Instagram reels are starting to shift the app from being less about creativity and artists to more about TikTok-type videos that are standardized and serve mindless entertainment.
It’s starting to lose its status as a go-to platform for artists and art while old Instagram users are starting to experiment with other social media sites that remind them of the old Instagram.
A Quick Instagram History
The Instagram app was founded in 2010 with the artistic community, creatives, designers, and photographers in mind by the co-founder Kevin Systrom. It immediately flooded with creatives and was shortly bought by Facebook in 2012.
It is now more of one of Facebook products rather than a creative platform. Instagram’s creators are frustrated about the app being more commercial and less about what they remembered it to be.
Social Media Marketing Strategies That Blow Your Business
Many artists express that Instagram’s creators are no longer in fashion. With the rest of the world and with the platform using similar technologies, Instagram is becoming more about advertising and measurement services and ad preferences. Most of Instagram’s creatives are now using such a creative business coach to guide them in creating content so they can get more traffic and commercial activity to their photos, videos, and profiles.
Start From Making Your Community
We’ve been talking about how it’s becoming much more difficult to be discovered and to go viral as artists or creatives. However, this, although being an obstacle, doesn’t mean that you can’t attract your followers and create your community. You can easily get Instagram followers growth service by 1394ta for your account anytime.
Your controls vary as to how you can steer clear of commercialization, and ads and manage your account and work. The algorithm is not so bad if you want to make money off your work and go bigger as well if you aren’t concerned about your work being original and unique.
You should monitor how different data affects your explore page and how much your posts about different niches on Instagram gain a different number of views and likes.
Instagram and many other platforms offer settings about the traffic on your posts and profile. The age, gender, location of your followers, etc. You can find additional information that can help you shape your community the way you want. You can see only things you want and nothing more.
If you’re a small account you can check this manually as well. You can cater more to an audience that you want your work to be seen. If you’re interested in art or you create art, for example, you can make sure your followers and following are only about that niche.
Many painting pages post classical paintings that are unaffected by recent changes. Only interested people follow them and they post according to their audience and what they want, or you just solve that yourself on 1394ta.
Instagram is More Than Just a Photo Sharing App
Instagram was the earliest and leading platform to enable adding filters to your photo with filters like an analogue photo developing technique. People express their nostalgia for that period when similar apps like VSCO or Retrica used a similar analogue photo development technique and filters as the photography was in a fashion more than it’s ever been.
You would share a black and white photo of anything with a hashtag authentic and an artistic community of your followers would appreciate and post similar photos.
New CEO: Adam Mosseri
Instagram gained a rapid commercial growth momentum and new certain features in 2016. It immediately flooded with more users, shopping features, etc.
New CEO Adam Mosseri, one of the founders of Facebook, replaced Instagram founder Kevin Systrom. Adam Mosseri declared the first thing as he became CEO “Instagram is no longer a photo-sharing app”.
New Features of IG
Instagram decided to embrace video as well. Instagram stories changed the platform deeply. However, it was mainly used for photos and a video could be 15 seconds long maximum.
The new CEO claimed TikTok and YouTube as competitors and that video is Instagram’s business as well.
To embrace video, a platform like Instagram TV was established. It wasn’t quite popular however and vertical videos in the style of TikTok called reels were introduced. The success of this medium was proven in TikTok and it became popular on Instagram as well. You can see many of these standardized vertical videos on your explore page.
No Thx, Bye Bye Instagram
A platform that used to be about creativity, photos, paintings, art supplies, flowers, and sunrises by an artistic community of Instagram’s creatives who were designers, artists, photographers, architects, and painters was now replaced by shopping features and standard reproduced videos that sell.
The marketing world conquered Instagram and it became merely one of Facebook products producing marketable content like other platforms.
Why There are Unhappy Instagram Users?
New CEO Mosseri claimed that the main reason why most people use Instagram is to be entertained and the app will draw its course focusing more on entertainment. It will lean into that “trend”.
Many artists who were already upset about such a “trend” were frustrated in learning that the only platform that they could rely on was about to be ruined as well.
Liverpool Photographer And Musician Reuben Wu
Countless artists and creatives that used to constitute the backbone of Instagram have left the app. The artistic community was replaced by younger generations seeking entertainment.
Liverpool photographer and musician Reuben Wu for example tweeted after hearing the news “thx bye Instagram” leaving behind his 260 thousand followers.
One of Instagram’s creatives, creative business coach, and the author of Hashtag Authentic: Finding Creativity and Building Community on Instagram and Beyond Sara Tasker say many people reached out to her afraid that they would be left behind since creative work would no longer be in fashion.
Sara Tasker claims that the video medium is more difficult to learn and not for people who are camera shy. That to make their creative work seen they have to dance in front of a camera is frustrating and unfair, she claims.
The Algorithm Favors Simple Entertainment
Sara Tasker also asserts that her post views and likes were descended lower than half they were a couple of years ago. Instagram algorithm no longer promotes genuine artistic creations but viral standard posts. She claims when she posted a regular photo of a drawing of a cat or a model like Kendall Jenner, the photo immediately becomes a hit, unlike her regular work. Moreover, you can add to posts genuine Instagram likes from 1394ta and make it boosts.
Photos of fit women in bikinis or underwear were much more likely to appear on explore pages than other posts, the research found. A photo or a video of nature and landscapes were much less likely to appear on the explore page.
How To Deal with The Change
Many of Instagram’s creatives are migrating to Twitter which is not yet one of Facebook’s products. It is a social media platform that is less affected by commercialization and marketing. Originality in content seems still important on Twitter.
Although the Twitter platform is more focused on humor and absurd interactions, it still hasn’t been much standardized or commercialized as other platforms. It is a go-to platform for many people, even artists because it’s allowing for more genuine interaction.
However, spoiler alert: with Elon Musk’s recent buying of Twitter shares and his claim that anonymous accounts will no longer be allowed on the platform, it looks like some changes are expected on Twitter as well.
How To Reset Your Explore Page
If you think you can’t work properly on Instagram the way you want because of reels on explore page and recommended posts you don’t want to see, you can clear your search history and not watch certain reels.
Instagram algorithm brings you more of the posts you show interest in, so steer clear of things you don’t want to see. If you see a post you don’t want to see on explore page tap on “Not interested” to show less in the future. Instagram isn’t completely lost yet and you can use it the way you want.
Final World on the Algorithm
The rapid changes and virtualization of the world so to speak can shock people who weren’t much into social media or technology. However, it isn’t so easy to escape the changes because they follow you. If the technology used to be more of a choice that could make life easier, it is becoming more of a necessity as we’re starting to establish techno-societies where communication, movement, and our perception of time and space are becoming optimized to the latest technologies.
If you can’t keep up a bad time awaits as we see with older people who are confused. A disabled browser’s cookies can’t make you hide from ads. Digitalization even affects billboards outside and subway stations and trains.
When you used to browse the Instagram hashtags you wanted on your Instagram account, the algorithm now gives you the idea of what you’ll like before you knew what that thing was.
How farther this will go? No one has all the answers. However, taking a reactive, unaccepting and paranoid stance towards changes in technology is not smart. The changes are not much threatening if you use your Instagram account smartly and don’t get carried away too much by the algorithm.
