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Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#301

Post by throwaway_4ever »

dont__panic wrote: post #221
solarmist wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was exactly my experience in a dev productivity team that had fulfilled its purpose well enough. It’s not a lack of creativity, but a lack of mission/vision/true north. Basically they’re flailing about trying to find something that sticks. If they can’t they’ll go the way of yahoo.

It's sad that they keep trying to bolt this functionality onto existing apps. Why not leave Instagram and Facebook alone as functional tools with purposes -- posting statuses, photos, keeping in touch with friends and family -- and then create a separate TikTok competitor? And a separate Snap competitor? Is it just because FB's awful awful Snap clone crashed and burned and nobody used it, so they're afraid to launch…

> and then create a separate TikTok competitor? And a separate Snap competitor?

They did, it was called Threads and no one used it.

https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/17/instagram-will-shut-down-i...

Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#302

Post by drusepth »

This seems like a great place to ask:

Does anyone have a suggestion for a good alternative for old-Instagram (e.g. just sharing photos)? I only joined originally because of their cool map view that had pins around the world showing where each of your shared photos were taken, and they removed that feature a few years ago; I haven't found any other app than Google Photos that does it well. However, Google Photos does it for all of my photos (there's a lot!) and I'd much prefer a separate app just so I can edit and curate a very small collection for the map instead (1-2 photos per place), and ideally be able to share that map with other people.

Anyone know of a good photo-sharing app for that?

Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#303

Post by Ensorceled »

MikusR wrote: post #145
Ensorceled wrote: post #97

All of social media is broken right now. Instagram actively hides pics from my step kids, nephew and niece to show me "reels" from people I don't follow. Last night a photo from my step daughter flickered briefly and then was lost. I couldn't find it again until this morning. I literally can't find their content anymore without scrolling and dodging videos that keep popping up. Youtube broke entirely a few months ago…

Youtube has a whole section with all the people you follow. https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions all the videos are in reverse chronological order. Twitter has a button with stars where you can select to show only the tweets of people you follow in reverse chronological order. Called Latest Tweets.

Stop blaming users for problems introduced by massive tech companies.

Yes, I know how to find my subscriptions, that's how I know the channels I like are dying; they are posting "my channel is dying videos" and only a subset of their users are finding them.

Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#304

Post by ravenstine »

Animats wrote: post #71

The key point here is that TikTok is now beating all the US social networks. This may be the beginning of the end for what Silicon Valley calls "tech", but is just ads with social content. Peak Facebook was in Q2 2021.[1] Instagram is losing to TikTok. (If you think the "metaverse" is going to be important in the social space, check out what's happening in China in that area. While the US has been distracted by the N…

I won't be surprised the day that Silicon Valley finally sees a real correction. We are due for one, big time. Just look at what Google and Meta have been doing compared to the ability of newcomers like TikTok. China will win, and when reality comes knocking, it will be too late and suddenly that easy money is going to vanish.

Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#305

Post by nikivi »

drusepth wrote: post #302

This seems like a great place to ask: Does anyone have a suggestion for a good alternative for old-Instagram (e.g. just sharing photos)? I only joined originally because of their cool map view that had pins around the world showing where each of your shared photos were taken, and they removed that feature a few years ago; I haven't found any other app than Google Photos that does it well. However, Google Photos does…

https://glass.photo/

Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#306

Post by decafninja »

eftychis wrote: post #85
fdgsdfogijq wrote: post #9

Theory on facebook failure/Google failure to innovate: They have the highest leetcode standards out of FAANG. As does Snap. They hire people that basically memorized computer science algorithms. And so their employees are bookish, not innovative people. Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon do not have the same issues with creating new products. Keith Rabois (top VC), mentioned that FB has always prioritized optimization over…

That is a hopeful idea but I feel it might be our naivety that propagates it. To my understanding Google's interviews have gotten easier and more arbitrary perhaps over time. The competition is high and thus there is the expectation of having studying to pass. Google is famous in the end. Consider there are the following cases (kind of complete): a) New employees hired are not brilliant b) Google doesn't want to hire…

I have a few friends at Google, all of whom got in many years ago. They all claim the interview has gotten a lot harder, and that there's no way in hell they'd pass the current level of scrutiny.

Although FWIW, they also say they also would not have passed the interview for the time period they got hired if they had to do it again a second time.

Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#307

Post by winternett »

windowsrookie wrote: post #56
winternett wrote: post #2

It's interesting that they don't care, it's a Marie Antoinette-esque attitude to their lifeblood, and ultimately what will end their dominance. The truth is they converted a free service into a pay service (the gas-lights creators and businesses into paying for visibility). The visibility, even when paid for is not very fruitful for many as well... If you run a small business like a restaurant in the US, but get 40,0…

That's a great theory. But judging by the number of people I see mindlessly scrolling instagram and TikTok I think they are going to be just fine. I think YouTube might be the one with the problems in the future. The younger generation seems to prefer the 30 second video clips, rather than the longer form YouTube videos. I think at some point Youtube is going to have to start deleting content, or restricting uploads.…

For most creators, the though of moving a volume of videos to a new location is terrifying. Also, a lot of the content on Youtube is formatted and made only based on YouTube (logos, watermarks, screen format, etc..).

Right now YouTube uses downgraded storage for less-viewed content, that's why a lot of older low-view content takes time to buffer when it's played... If they delete stuff, creator hell might break loose.

Instagram also has a strange infinite scroll that greatly impairs and discourages users from looking into older content... Facebook does it too. I wouldn't be surprised if they are planning on switching to these new formats as a springboard/catalyst for eliminating tons of older content posts, and that will also be a big problem, it's not just pictures of grandma that will be lost.

Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#308

Post by harrisonjackson »

Instagram's biggest failing in trying to copy Tiktok is their feed algorithm.

Tiktok has nailed the delightful "stumble upon" effect of getting users of all ages to keep going to the next and the next video. I don't mind how each new piece of content is paged because the content is better for the format and it doesn't feel clunky when I do want to skip to the next one.

Instagram couldn't switch their algorithm because people think they still want to see the content they've been seeing... otherwise they'd just be using TikTok.

In insta, we are used to scrolling really quickly until something catches the eye and THEN we engage. That is because the content in the insta feed is not as good and there are more ads. The new scrolling/paged UI in Instagram feels terrible because I can't fly through bad content to engage with what I want.

Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#309

Post by anthropodie »

drusepth wrote: post #302

This seems like a great place to ask: Does anyone have a suggestion for a good alternative for old-Instagram (e.g. just sharing photos)? I only joined originally because of their cool map view that had pins around the world showing where each of your shared photos were taken, and they removed that feature a few years ago; I haven't found any other app than Google Photos that does it well. However, Google Photos does…

Not sure if map thing is supported but PixelFed is good alternative to Instagram in general.

Re: Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

#310

Post by winternett »

mrtksn wrote: post #296
winternett wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most political things don't generate huge amounts of platform advertising money probably on TikTok... The autopilot ad revenue is easy for them to make on political content as well because right now, there's only a few different aspects competing with each other... It's likely that a lot of users don't primarily go to TikTok for political content, it's primarily music and social influencer based as well... This is wh…

There's definitely political content too. It's just that it tends to be expressed much more creatively, through music, dancing and acting.

Of course, I'm just saying that there are more fart jokes, memes, and makeup tip videos than political ones on TikTok at this particular moment in time.
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