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Instagram Is Over

theatlantic.com

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Re: Instagram Is Over

#91

Post by Jun8 »

denton-scratch wrote: post #77

> something small but noticeable—like wearing a fedora—that immediately turns you off forever. There seems to be a thing that some people hate "fedoras". I think it's to do with the "Fedora guy" meme. The hat Jerry Messing appears in is not a fedora; it's a trilby. A trilby is a hat with a quite narrow brim, and stiffened; it's often woven and patterned. It can be made of just about anything (such as leather). You ca…

I usually just upvote and move on, not to add a noisy comment to the discussion; however you comment was so informative and well-written that I felt compelled to comment on it.

For those who want to try the fedora, I recommend the “Indiana Jones” look (https://herbertjohnson.co.uk/collections/indiana-jones-colle...). I had one of these but unfortunately the parent’s comment about them being aerofoils is true: lost it to a gust in the Grand Canyon. It fell tantalizingly close to the fence, re-creating the “Let it go!” scene :-)

Re: Instagram Is Over

#92

Post by com2kid »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #65
impulser_ wrote: post #63

They moved on from Facebook being over to Instagram being over lol. Instagram isn't over. It's still the most popular social media app on both App Store and Google Play in the US. For the past couple of years you always see articles popping up about Facebook being dead, then you look at the actual data and people are using Facebook more than ever. Look at the last report from Meta, more people on a daily and monthly…

> Look at the last report from Meta, more people on a daily and monthly basis are using Facebook and Instagram than ever both. It's more nuanced than that. If you're losing traction where it matters - in younger generations & high-value markets like the US that have higher future cash flows - it doesn't matter if you're making up for it with usage from old people or people in poor countries without good advertising i…

> in younger generations & high-value markets like the US that have higher future cash flows

People in their 30s and 40s earn more money than college students and new grads in their 20s, and they are spending that money right now. Facebook groups for home decorating, design, cars, fitness, parenting, all of those are really popular. You can go on Facebook and find a large community dedicated to literally any style of home decor you can imagine, and those people are quite willing to spend money.

Same with the parenting groups. DINKs don't spend money at anything near the rate parents do. DINKs have higher free cash flow, but that is because they have free cash, parents are buying stuff all the time.

Honestly, 5 years ago I barely used Facebook, now that I am older I am using it a lot more.

Also, with that entire population decline thing, each new generation is, at best, the same size as the generation that came before it. If constant double digit growth is desired, sure, need to get that next generation on board, but at some point Facebook may have to be happy with "just" earning hard to imagine amounts of money each year and only seeing single digit growth in revenue.

Re: Instagram Is Over

#93

Post by arnvald »

onetimeusename wrote: post #40

I am surprised people expect these apps to remain popular for a long time. The internet has changed so much. I've watched social media apps come and go every few years and I personally think they are all short lived trends with maybe a few exceptions. They capture a young market first, who provide the value (photos, videos, memes) and then older generations start joining after the young market is captured. Then after…

I'd actually keep using social apps more if they stayed closer to their original versions.

My Facebook feed turned from updates from my friends and family to garbage filled with politics, ads, suggested pages, and I stopped using it.

My Instagram feed turned from photos of my family and friends to garbage: again ads, recommended pages, later videos. Eventually I deleted it.

Twitter was close to that when they introduces algorithmic feed which showed stuff I didn't want to see and I was close to deleting the app, thankfully there's a way to still have the chronological feed without all the "likes" and "recommendations".

I keep using Reddit because I still can use it the same way as years ago - join communities that interest me and not see the stuff I don't want (even though they regularly push some more useless stuff to show me)

I believe social media can last long, but they need to find balance between monetization, innovation, and staying true to their users. Facebook and Instagram went way too far in alienating their users, and while they're still popular, they're declining.

Re: Instagram Is Over

#94

Post by throwaway82388 »

nightski wrote: post #89
throwaway82388 wrote: post #15

I’m far from bullish on meta long-term, but reporting like this would have you believe that nobody uses Facebook, and that Instagram is soon to share its fate. Optimists that they are, tech reporters overweight growth to absurd extremes. Maybe reporting on youth trends brings out the insecurities in all of us—you’d rather not look clueless in front of your two cool friends in their early 20s than the 2 billion or so…

It takes a second to open an app, become a MAU, and then close it in disinterest. I'll admit this is my relationship with Facebook. I never see anything on there I am remotely interested in. Just old relatives spewing nonsense. But I guess I count as one of those 2 billion MAUs. I wonder how many are in the same spot.

I’d bet a solid majority, like it is on any social platform. Most users don’t post or engage.

Biggest predictor for Facebook and IG use among my sample of friends is whether they’re married and have families, or in many cases, pets. In my sample, many own homes or property. Not where the growth is, but not worthless from a revenue standpoint.

Re: Instagram Is Over

#95

Post by micromacrofoot »

viburnum wrote: post #27

“In other words, Instagram is giving us the ick: that feeling when a romantic partner or crush does something small but noticeable—like wearing a fedora—that immediately turns you off forever” This was so ridiculously judgmental that I couldn’t keep reading.

found the fedora-wearer

Re: Instagram Is Over

#97

Post by standardUser »

pelasaco wrote: post #9

I hope not. I use it as a way to save my moments with my family, in the expectation that It will survive some good years, and therefore my kids can then watch the pics, videos, comments and get a better picture (pun intended) of the context of the photos. Much better than have it in a disk (if its survive) or printed.

Instagram has functionality to download all of your content, including archived stories.

Re: Instagram Is Over

#99

Post by throwaway82388 »

TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #81

On the topic of social media in decline, TikTok also appears to have peaked in content already. Following people isn't that interesting since most content creators that hit it big are One Hit Wonders. After they hit that big growth spike, they either follow the herd with the latest dance or trend, or they keep doing the same thing that made em famous with slight variations. How long can you milk the same dance routin…

It is remarkable how hard it is for a business to simply last a decade. To do it at the scale of the incumbent apps is astounding to me.

While TikTok is growing quickly, we still don’t know its long term potential, how ‘sticky’ it is. I’d predict it has a trajectory more like Twitter and less like Snapchat. But it could well become a YouTube. All we can do is wait and find out.

Re: Instagram Is Over

#100

Post by elgar1212 »

amelius wrote: post #90
Animats wrote: post #86

"To scroll through Instagram today is to parse a series of sponsored posts from brands, recommended Reels from people you don’t follow, and the occasional picture from a friend that’s finally surfaced after being posted several days ago. It’s not what it used to be." That seems to be how social media services die. Too many ads, fewer users, revenue drop, more ads to boost revenue, still fewer users, irrelevance. This…

And even the non-advertisement posts are still self-promotional posts.

this is even more infuriating than actual ads, because at least actual ads have the "sponsored" label and don't try to hide it
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