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Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy

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

#321

Post by solarmist »

fluidcruft wrote: post #44
system16 wrote: post #14

It's fascinating how reactionary and directionless Instagram and Facebook have become. Instagram in particular has become Frankenstein's monster over the last few years, pathetically trying to reproduce functionality from other apps. The latest cloning of TikTok's feed is almost embarrassing. It's a testament to how deep the lack of a creative culture at Meta runs.

My impression back in the day was that Facebook bought Instagram for the same reason. They couldn't get the younger crowd to stay on Facebook. It's more of a testament about to how much youth are not interested in living their lives on their parent's platforms.

That was my impression too, that and buying potential competitors.

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

#322

Post by anthropodie »

nikivi wrote: post #305
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/

iPhone only

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

#323

Post by dboreham »

alexpotato wrote: post #280

As a casual user of both Facebook and TikTok, I would share my impression of how they share videos: TikTok - Their algorithm seems to very quickly hone in on things I actually want to see. - e.g. if figured out that I like to see comedy clips, some woodworking videos etc - I suspect that they do this by a combination of showing you some "test" videos that quickly bucket your interests and then using additional data b…

otoh, learned many things about the behavior of cats with dogs, dogs with rabbits, mammalX with mammalY, bears crossing the road, ducks crossing the road (no other types of mammal cross the road).

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

#324

Post by emptysongglass »

loudmax wrote: post #182
Jasper_ wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ones coming up with products are usually executives looking to advance their career. e.g. everyone I know who worked on Google Stadia who cared readily pointed out all the problems from idea to implementation. Management & product design waved off the concerns, said they were in for the long haul, and that the product would be a huge success regardless. And then they got cold feet after realizing how much of a fl…

I was actually impressed at how well Stadia worked. My impression is that they did an excellent job at the technical implementation. A lot of games don't require millisecond response times or amazing graphics and Stadia would have had one of the best anti-cheat systems for multiplayer games, basically for free. What sank Stadia before it even launched was their asinine pricing strategy. It should have been clear to a…

You're writing like Stadia's already dead, which it isn't and far from it. I've tried all the cloud gaming platforms and none touch the ease of use and pick-up-play quality of Stadia.

People today are even playing Stadia without knowing it thanks to Google's new white-labeling strategy.

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

#325

Post by colonwqbang »

t0mas88 wrote: post #313
biztos wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a huge admirer of TikTok and love to use it -- once a week only! -- but I sort of agree with the US government that it's crazy to give that much of (mostly) your youth's attention to an adversary. However I find it baffling that all the VC in the Global West is unable to come up with a popular alternative, even though it's glaringly obvious[0] what the "secret sauce" is in TikTok and why it works so well. Instead…

> but I sort of agree with the US government that it's crazy to give that much of (mostly) your youth's attention to an adversary. In a way Europe has been doing that for many years. The US does not have any privacy protection of foreigners, the NSA is only not supposed to capture data on US citizens . Only now are we seeing Google Analytics banned in many European countries. But it's a very small step.

You have a point, but the way Europeans see the US is very different from how they see China. The US has done some morally questionable things in recent memory (War on terror, Snowden/Assange, Trump, etc) but on the whole US is seen as an ally, not an adversary.

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

#326

Post by lovehashbrowns »

Ensorceled wrote: post #303
MikusR wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Your other comment said:

> The content creators I've subscribed to are now rarely in my feed which is full of "recommended for you" videos and movies for rent.

The solution is to go to your subscription feed. This also wasn't a few months ago. This changed many years ago. I remember hating having to put the subscriptions page in my list of URLs because it was harder to go there. Previously there was a section of the YT home page for your latest subscription uploads, I think? I don't remember exactly.

You also need to actively watch content from your subscribed channels in order to get their videos recommended to you. I have a ton of channels I'm subscribed to but not all of them show up in my recommendations because I don't watch their content enough.

I feel that's actually better because there are channels I'm subscribed to that I don't watch all of their content, e.g. conference channels, but I do want to occasionally see if they uploaded anything I want to watch. Channels I actively watch frequently have their newest uploads pop up in my recommendations almost immediately.

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

#327

Post by orangepurple »

t0mas88 wrote: post #313
biztos wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a huge admirer of TikTok and love to use it -- once a week only! -- but I sort of agree with the US government that it's crazy to give that much of (mostly) your youth's attention to an adversary. However I find it baffling that all the VC in the Global West is unable to come up with a popular alternative, even though it's glaringly obvious[0] what the "secret sauce" is in TikTok and why it works so well. Instead…

> but I sort of agree with the US government that it's crazy to give that much of (mostly) your youth's attention to an adversary. In a way Europe has been doing that for many years. The US does not have any privacy protection of foreigners, the NSA is only not supposed to capture data on US citizens . Only now are we seeing Google Analytics banned in many European countries. But it's a very small step.

Wait until Europeans find out all of their bank data is analyzed in the Google Cloud

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

#328

Post by praestigiare »

twiceaday wrote: post #240
anoonmoose wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got super excited for that YouTube functionality, then I clicked the link and realized that either I follow way too many people for this to be useful, or the people I follow are producing way more content than I can handle. I guess maybe if I "un-ring" the bell for a few of the bigger channels this could be useful...

People harp on social media algorithms but this right here is the actual problem. Your stated preferences, to see and be notified of all those videos, run contrary to your revealed preferences. And services catering to the former will lose to services catering to the latter. By harboring these mismatches we train these systems to ignore what we say we want or risk losing profits and market share.

The problem is that engagement is a poor proxy for preference.

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

#329

Post by jsemrau »

alchemyromcom wrote: post #291
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…

>This may be the beginning of the end for what Silicon Valley calls "tech" There's something about the way you phrased this that just made me just realize there's a very real possibility that the internet could turn into television part two. If you think about the most popular platforms, they are mostly video and now the other very popular ones are trying to follow in kind. There's also all the streaming platforms th…

TBH, for me this is already happening. I am mostly using Youtube as a source of news and information. News, there are many local news services of places that I lived in that I can't watch on "normal" TV and can now enjoy in this way. Summary of sport events check). Opinion panels on video games and movies (check)

The discovery algo is still terrible. But the content is there.

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

#330

Post by robotshmobot »

alchemyromcom wrote: post #291
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…

>This may be the beginning of the end for what Silicon Valley calls "tech" There's something about the way you phrased this that just made me just realize there's a very real possibility that the internet could turn into television part two. If you think about the most popular platforms, they are mostly video and now the other very popular ones are trying to follow in kind. There's also all the streaming platforms th…

>There's something about the way you phrased this that just made me just realize there's a very real possibility that the internet could turn into television part two.

My friend, we're already there.

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