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Instagram gets worse with dark patterns lifted from TikTok

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Re: Instagram gets worse with dark patterns lifted from TikTok

#91

Post by rvz »

Kukumber wrote: post #88

Instagram is a nest for influencers trying to scam their communities with random products and drops, a cancer, conditioning new generations to consumerism and beauty filters, it should be banned It's the complete opposite on tiktok, you see almost exclusively entertainers and creative people So it's no wonder they are trying to copy this, but copying the UI won't be enough if you keep the same userbase The only one c…

There is nothing that TikTok is doing differently than Instagram that is a net positive for society. Replacing one digital crack cocaine product with other digital crack cocaine product but with stronger ingredients and someone else copying the worse parts of it is a race to the bottom.

There is no difference with these platforms other than one of them (TikTok) having an addictive Orwellian algorithm that dictates what is seen and unseen and can amplify a dangerous reality distortion field to create a deception of reality such that its users cannot tell what is real or not, even as serious as a war [0] all thanks to the algorithm.

So when you have something that is even worse than Facebook, Instagram, etc that is hardly 'The best thing to have happened to the Internet.' [1]

[0] https://www.nrk.no/osloogviken/xl/tiktok-doesn_t-show-the-wa...

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28135484

Re: Instagram gets worse with dark patterns lifted from TikTok

#92

Post by picsao »

rightbyte wrote: post #89
bobkazamakis wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lidar is military-grade tech encryption is military-grade tech too.

> encryption is military-grade tech too Anything painted green and sold for 10x the price is military grade.

No post body was provided.

Re: Instagram gets worse with dark patterns lifted from TikTok

#93

Post by rvz »

deanCommie wrote: post #11

Instagram didn't out-innovate Snapchat, but they did destroy them. Turns out "Photo stories" wasn't a moat - it was a feature trivial to copy and deliver at a higher quality. And while Snapchat's AR filters were (and still are) state-of-the-art, those are only short-term distractions and don't have long-term stickiness. They'll have a much harder time with TikTok. Tiktok's secret juice isn't the Slightly-Longer-Vines…

Every social media product eventually gets out of fashion for the current generation and gets taken over and Meta knew that decades ago for Facebook. They have another 10+ years of relevance due to Instagram.

> They'll have a much harder time with TikTok. Tiktok's secret juice isn't the Slightly-Longer-Vines. It's the recommendation algorithm. It's INCREDIBLY addictive.

As long as the corporations, large advertisers, existing influencers and celebrities and mainstream media, keep paying big money to TikTok to game the algorithm and flood their content, ads on there to reach more users, the ruining of TikTok will happen, just like it did with Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, etc and the users will always be in last vs the ones who can pay big money.

I predict that TikTok will screw its users over (which it is already doing) due to investor, advertiser pressure to keep it up and this would definitely happen after they IPO to give them a return. The longer they postpone the IPO, it will get worse it for them and especially the users.

It doesn't matter if it is Instagram. If they can't do it will be from someone else. It is the same old power law happening again. The early users who got addicted to it will complain that TikTok is ruining the platform and will no longer feel addicted anymore and leave to find the next addictive hit. The late users will follow suit leaving it to the bots to pick up the pieces.

Rinse and repeat for 'current trend'.

Re: Instagram gets worse with dark patterns lifted from TikTok

#94

Post by Traubenfuchs »

One more dark pattern: The explore screen, or however it‘s called, now always shows at least 3 videos. At least one of them completely. Half a year ago they would show only two.

In any case, now there will always be 3 things moving on this screen and that‘s why I can‘t use it anymore.

Re: Instagram gets worse with dark patterns lifted from TikTok

#95

Post by monista »

lrvick wrote: post #31
chii wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I tried to avoid doing these things for awhile but nobody pays me to be ethical. it's because any way to make money that is currently legal (but some might consider unethical) is the fittest agent in the darwinian natural selection of economic competition. So any ethical businesses who forgo a more profitable, but slightly less ethical method, would be out-competed. Over time, therefore, what remains must be busine…

It is not up to the law to set the standard. That is giving people ethical permission to sell their skill to the highest bidder. No one makes you work for casinos, big pharma, anti-human-rights political groups, or surveillance capitalism companies. If you work for an unethical company you share responsibility for the harm they do. If a company you work for is behaving unethically, quit, and find another job. I promi…

This is a funny example of a dark pattern: along with undoubtedly evil entities like anti-human-rights groups, you mentioned big pharma, probably to promote your anti-scientific agenda.

Re: Instagram gets worse with dark patterns lifted from TikTok

#96

Post by monista »

pndy wrote: post #74
LeonTheremin wrote: post #34

To evade the dark pattern use a proxy like ProxiTok/Bibliogram and read them from your feed reader, customized as you prefer.

Haven't seen Bibliogram working at all in last 3 or 4 months. Every instance gives me blocked message - guess Instagram is actively fighting against these "proxies". There's this federated photo sharing service pixelfed [1](of course runs on ActivityPub) but it doesn't seem to be gaining any traction, comparable to mastodon. Perhaps because it doesn't come with a mobile application. [1] - https://github.com/pixelfed/…

Weird that Bibliogram doesn't work for you, for me, the main instance never worked, but most of other instances do work (both directly and via PrivacyRedirect addon).

Re: Instagram gets worse with dark patterns lifted from TikTok

#97

Post by JohnFen »

jondwillis wrote: post #13

TikTok and Facebook’s antics (existence?) have me seriously considering quitting tech. I feel like no matter what I do, I am feeding one of these societal cancers by implementing tracking for whoever is paying me currently, lifting dark patterns, etc, using the API of Google… I tried to avoid doing these things for awhile but nobody pays me to be ethical. My only marketable skill is software development and I pretty…

I've reached the exact same place. The entire software and internet space strikes me as having become a monster, and I increasingly have great difficulty convincing myself that it's OK to be a part of it.

The problem is that software engineering is my only marketable skill. I've fallen into a trap.

Re: Instagram gets worse with dark patterns lifted from TikTok

#98

Post by neon_electro »

princevegeta89 wrote: post #56
jondwillis wrote: post #13

TikTok and Facebook’s antics (existence?) have me seriously considering quitting tech. I feel like no matter what I do, I am feeding one of these societal cancers by implementing tracking for whoever is paying me currently, lifting dark patterns, etc, using the API of Google… I tried to avoid doing these things for awhile but nobody pays me to be ethical. My only marketable skill is software development and I pretty…

You don't need to quit tech. You need to find a position that helps solve real problems for the greater good. If you think about it, companies like Apple are very pro-privacy and don't make money by selling data or tracking folks. Or look into other companies like those non-profits like Mozilla or Signal. Your pay will go down but you'll be content. Or maybe, you could look into building your own company. Facebook is…

I applied to several Apple positions this year, they are still hell-bent on hybrid/on-site positions.

Re: Instagram gets worse with dark patterns lifted from TikTok

#99

Post by neon_electro »

bpodgursky wrote: post #43
jondwillis wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I should specify that I am an iOS engineer.

There are a lot of legitimate b2c healthtech companies looking for app developers.

And there are thousands if not millions of Americans without healthcare. Not a judgement against you or anyone looking for healthtech jobs, more power to you/them, but that's where I personally draw the line as someone looking for a (hopefully ethical) software/Web development job.

Re: Instagram gets worse with dark patterns lifted from TikTok

#100

Post by neon_electro »

jondwillis wrote: post #35
lrvick wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After working for so many companies that went down the surveillance capitalism path I finally decided I would only work on security and privacy projects. It turns out even with this limitation I have had endless job options. So much so I decided to start my own consulting company so I could pick and choose the most interesting projects across many non-survcap companies. I am a -lot- happier. Also as an independent co…

Interesting. I’m wracking my brain trying to figure out a similar industry that I can get excited about. The cat and mouse nature of security and privacy puts me off a bit. Maybe green tech? Appreciate the comment nonetheless!

Green tech isn't terrible - I spent 4.5 years there. But here's my review of where I was: https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Inspire-RV...
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