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Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

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Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instagram didn't "win out" against Facebook. They fulfill two different roles with a few duplicated features.

Yes it did. Instagram is cool and Facebook is not. Now Snap is cool and Instagram is fading.

I think there's so many ways to connect on the internet that every social app has it's own role and purpose. Everything is fading away as users age and their preferences change. On top of that there are always new apps which are trying to attract new users and lock them in until something new doesn't come out that's why Zuck was obsessed with competition. He tried buying Twitter and Snapchat but they refused on the other hand Instagram and WhatsApp gave in.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#62
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What lesson would that be? Facebook is hugely successful.

Well yes, but it has limited growth potential. Latest generations are not interested joining it. So in 10 years it will be a dying platform. Kodak didn't die when invented digital cameras, but it was a downhill ride towards inevitable cliff.

==Latest generations are not interested joining it.==

But they sure love Instagram and WhatsApp.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#63
post #39
post #9

Quoting from the excellent blog post[1] submitted here yesterday[0] that stole my morning workout time: " Instagram is some strange hybrid mix of social and interest graph, and now it’s also a jumble of formats, with a Stories feed relegated to a top bar in the app while the more stagnant and less active original feed continues to run vertically as the default. Messaging is pushed to a separate pane and also served b…

I think the trouble is that it's really hard to start a new social network from scratch, so when Facebook wants to compete in a new segment they just tack on the feature to one of their existing social products. However, as you pointed out this leads to feature creep and pushes users to simpler platforms. What I would do to solve this problem if I were at Facebook is to start new features out on an established platfo…

And even if they lose some users when they split out the feature to a separate app, they have still slowed down the growth of their competitor.

It's an ugly, but effective strategy.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#64
I find myself never actually using social media. Good friends belong to the same Signal group chats. I have several of these which consists of cliques I have built up over the years in school and at work and that's how I stay in touch. For those that are further out of reach there is email and linkedin if I really need to dig someone up from the past.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#65
post #14

Never used Tiktok, or Instagram, and Facebook just now seems to be nothing more than a feed of irrelevant ads to, and any friends' or family posts are relegated to the little bell icon. I barely look at it more than once every few days now as it has lost much of its utility. Most of my friends and family are on other social networks and sites (twitter, strava, discord) now with fewer, or no ads, or even just whatsapp…

Not exactly sure how your personal experience with a company is really relevant, considering that the article is specifically discussing a new product said company is launching.

But transitioning to more intimate forms of social media is a great move, so I'm glad you made the switch. A lot of people do find Facebook (for example) to be too fake, while others need it to keep in touch with their family and communities.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#66

Has anyone noticed the emergence of axios.com articles trending on HackerNews in the last week? Is this being engineered or is it because of the Trump interview on Axios?

> Is this being engineered or is it because of the Trump interview on Axios? Are these the only two possible reasons to choose from?

There's a Trump-related medical condition which always surfaces when a person is fuelled with conspiracy and suspicion towards him in everyday life. I can't think of its name.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#67
post #20

My biggest wish for Instagram is to stop creating new ways to format content and give users more control over how their content is distributed. For example, I know a few people with private accounts for close friends or fitness accounts, why not create feeds of posts that people can subscribe to? They have a similar feature with stories/highlights. This is most likely to boost account #s but it's frustrating to have…

This, but not just for Instagram. I know people who have separate "pages" on Facebook to represent different interests. I know people who have multiple Twitter accounts for the same reason, and even more that I wish would. For all of its weaknesses, Google Plus took a step in this direction with circles. I think streams would be even better.

P.S. Tags could be better still, but only if they're used consistently. My experience with other places/tools that use tags is that never ever happens, so I'd go with streams.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#68
post #9

Quoting from the excellent blog post[1] submitted here yesterday[0] that stole my morning workout time: " Instagram is some strange hybrid mix of social and interest graph, and now it’s also a jumble of formats, with a Stories feed relegated to a top bar in the app while the more stagnant and less active original feed continues to run vertically as the default. Messaging is pushed to a separate pane and also served b…

As an American who looks at WeChat and sees a massive, unintuitive jumbled mess, you've explained in this comment how that could possibly be so popular in China!

I feel foolish for not having realized that the UX must make perfect sense to everyone who has used WeChat since the days of it being a simple communication app.

By that logic, I'm not sure we could say quite yet that Instagram's bundling is a mistake.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instagram didn't "win out" against Facebook. They fulfill two different roles with a few duplicated features.

Yes it did. Instagram is cool and Facebook is not. Now Snap is cool and Instagram is fading.

Snap is still wildly popular with Gen Z. The use case for them is mostly messaging and private Stories. Instagram is more of a consumption platform for them at this point. They serve two different use cases.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#70
post #68
post #9

Quoting from the excellent blog post[1] submitted here yesterday[0] that stole my morning workout time: " Instagram is some strange hybrid mix of social and interest graph, and now it’s also a jumble of formats, with a Stories feed relegated to a top bar in the app while the more stagnant and less active original feed continues to run vertically as the default. Messaging is pushed to a separate pane and also served b…

As an American who looks at WeChat and sees a massive, unintuitive jumbled mess, you've explained in this comment how that could possibly be so popular in China! I feel foolish for not having realized that the UX must make perfect sense to everyone who has used WeChat since the days of it being a simple communication app. By that logic, I'm not sure we could say quite yet that Instagram's bundling is a mistake.

You're comparing apples to oranges here. WeChat is a "superapp" platform for doing distinct things: chat, payments, ticket bookings, etc. Instagram's features, on the other hand, are all purely social networking.
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