Instagram is shifting to videos – users aren't happy • Hacker News Board

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

#351

Post by oldsecondhand » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 10:02 PM UTC

eruleman wrote: post #347

alchemyromcom wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

A text-based internet is mostly a relic of low broadband penetration. Video is more engaging than text for most people.

However creating text content is much cheaper than video, and I also don't see text comments replaced by video replies.

Text is also easier to search both for humans (skimming) and computers. "This meeting could have been an email" also applies to entertainment.

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

#352

Post by kvetching » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 10:02 PM UTC

It's IMPOSSIBLE to make an instagram account based solely off of images now.

You're content will NOT even be pushed on the Recent tab of the hashtags you choose. You are essentially not seen at all unless someone is following you.

The only way to be seen by the algorithm anymore to grow your account is to make videos.

This is what happens when a company loses it's vision. Just check out how the filters have changed over the years. It's just Instagram losing it's soul and what made it unique.

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

#353

Post by NCC1701DEngage » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 10:03 PM UTC

jsemrau wrote: post #329

alchemyromcom wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

You watch any of the TLDR channels for news? I just found them not too long ago.

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

#354

Post by babypuncher » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 10:05 PM UTC

solarmist wrote: post #317

labrador wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tiktok has nailed the delightful "stumble upon" I didn't understand the appeal of Tiktok until just now when I read your comment. I was a StumbleUpon.com addict in 2006-07. I spent hours a day on it, saw really interesting content and even made some IRL friends. I have no idea why they killed that site. I'll give Tiktok another try.

I think they just never found a way to make money that didn’t destroy the experience.

I think Reddit also kind of replaced it. Back then, Reddit was more of a social bookmarking site like del.ic.ious but with expanded community features. You would go to the front page, and see a pretty similar selection of links to what you would get smashing the Stumble button that day, only it's been curated and sorted by the community through the karma system. Each link also came with a very well designed comment section where users could discuss it.

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

#355

Post by t0bia_s » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 10:07 PM UTC

orangepurple wrote: post #327

t0mas88 wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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

Not that bad as Chinese investments in European universities. Shaping education by foreigners that not accept democratic principles is far more dangerous.

Sure, we can speak about political correctness from West in campuses, but that has no future by definition.

However... Both trends has similar goal to steal freedom from citizens.

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

#356

Post by _2d30 » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 10:08 PM UTC

cowtools wrote: post #195

_2d30 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tommy Marcus, the content creator from Brooklyn, probably doesn't get much of a say in what Meta optimizes for. Glad you got your insult in, though!

Tommy Marcus, the content creator from Brooklyn profits from his instagram fame. Of course he wants the company do to well even if it's at the cost of the users. He does have a say in the way that facebook acts because he has leverage through his popularity. Not to mention that he is going on the news giving apologia to the corporation. And you're saying we should we should just twiddle our thumbs and not contest his…

Sure, because they could get the information they want without having to wade through the mountains of crap you’re pumping out of the septic tank into your users faces. You’re optimising the wrong metric you fucking clown.

Tommy doesn't optimize Instagram metrics. Instagram does.

Tommy doesn't have users. Instagram does.

Tommy doesn't pump "mountains of crap out of the septic tank into" users faces. Instagram does. Tommy pumps out whatever content he wants to the people who follow him.

It's clear from the quote that OP thinks Tommy works at Instagram and is criticizing what he think is an Instagram employee.

It's not even apologia for Instagram, it's just Tommy's statement of belief that Instagram won't be negatively impacting users' time spent with these changes. There's no value statement at all from Tommy.

It's not even a "ridiculous idea". It's just that Tommy thinks these changes will increase users' time spent on Instagram. You're just imputing mountains of additional context into what he says.

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

#357

Post by _2d30 » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 10:09 PM UTC

thatguy0900 wrote: post #171

_2d30 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tommy Marcus, the content creator from Brooklyn, probably doesn't get much of a say in what Meta optimizes for. Glad you got your insult in, though!

He has a say on what he says about metas feed optimization though, and he clearly supports where their headed now. That's fair to criticize, even if the insult is a little heated.

It's not clear that he supports it. It's clear that he thinks users will spend more time on Instagram.

Tommy's say on Instagram's product choices is probably about equivalent to my say which is to say no say.

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

#358

Post by eruleman » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 10:10 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #350

eruleman wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A text-based internet is mostly a relic of low broadband penetration. Video is more engaging than text for most people.

Boggles my mind how. Unless it is an arts and crafts or mechanical or some other hands on video, it is so inefficient to watch someone talk rather than just read the transcript.

Most people don't judge content based on information density.

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

#359

Post by solarmist » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 10:18 PM UTC

babypuncher wrote: post #354

solarmist wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they just never found a way to make money that didn’t destroy the experience.

I think Reddit also kind of replaced it. Back then, Reddit was more of a social bookmarking site like del.ic.ious but with expanded community features. You would go to the front page, and see a pretty similar selection of links to what you would get smashing the Stumble button that day, only it's been curated and sorted by the community through the karma system. Each link also came with a very well designed comment s…

Somewhat. Reddit’s never been nearly as serendipitous as Stumbleupon

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

#360

Post by babypuncher » Wed, Jul 27, 2022, 10:19 PM UTC

igorkraw wrote: post #283

LionTamer wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you think humans should incentivize R&D without allowing for those who successfully deployed R&D to protect their ability to reap the fruits of their efforts? I’m sympathetic and am very interested in the idea of the government creating public goods out of intellectual property on a national level (ie instead of rewarding copyrights/parents the government would buy out the creator and make it free for citizens…

For the research part (figuring out something previously impossible)? No need to incentivise, the kick of figuring it out is enough to motivate people, just provide UBI so the nerds can tinker. For the development/application part? Let people race to figure out the best way to deploy things before someone else does, the way the swiss and Germans and Chinese did in the free for all time. I've heard competition be call…

> For the research part (figuring out something previously impossible)? No need to incentivise, the kick of figuring it out is enough to motivate people, just provide UBI so the nerds can tinker.

I think this is only true to a certain extent. We have reached a point where a lot of new innovation and invention is only possible with a truly tremendous amount of financial investment. No amount of tinkering in your garage is going to bring about the next advancement in EUV lithography. You need an entity with a lot of capital and a strong incentive to bring many of these things about. That can come from either the private sector or the government, but it cannot realistically be pulled out of thin air.