If you're on Instagram, you've no doubt seen that they want to add a Facebook-like algorithm to it, so you'll see things that Instagram thinks you'll like best and what you really want to be seeing. Just like Facebook (hint, Instagram is owned by Facebook, so one can assume it'll work just as "good").
And, if you don't like how Facebook does things, you probably won't like what Instagram does (but I would like to know how Instagram came up with the statistic that you don't see 70% of what people post - I'm guessing that's just people not scrolling back till when they last checked, which is user error, not app error. Either way).
Personally, I just use the Most Recent part of my Facebook feed to see what I'm hoping is everything. I'm not, however, too interested in Facebook to go to each page or person that I follow to make sure I saw everything that they liked, posted, shared, etc.
But really, this algorithm thing is just more reason to not check Instagram.
I mean, uh, check it less than I already do. Which is less than I used to.
Oh, I make sure and see the posts of people I feel are friends, but I don't go out of my way to make sure I see everything that everyone I follow posts. It's just not worth the time.
I mean that in a nice way - because I don't expect you to see everything that I post, that would be ridiculous. If you happen to see it, cool. If not, whatever, I don't care.
And to be honest, Instagram has turned into a business for a lot of people.
Good for them.
I'm not interested.
I started using Instagram in, what, late 2012? Early 2013? I didn't know what I was doing with it. And then I found the retro gaming community, and fell in with them. Then I moved away from that, and into the planner community. And now I'm flirting with the knitting community, too.
And, well, those last two are businesses (retro gaming is just resellers at most, and everyone thinks those guys are obnoxious).
You can sell stuff...great. I'm happy for you. But I'm just not interested. I don't have the money to go spend on Etsy (I wish I did, sure, but it's not likely to happen). And I don't want to buy your Instagram styling course (what, what even is this?) or your journaling course (because I can fill up paper more than well enough on my own, sorry, even if it's not as arty as yours). I can't buy your pretty yarn, I can't buy your fancy paperclips, and I can't buy your project bags. I wish you the best with your business, but I can't be your customer. Sorry.
I can, however, make sure I'm not tempting myself to spend money I don't have.
I can, however, not see that crap and be sad about the fact that I don't have the yarn or project bags or paperclips.
And I can make what I want with what I have and hope for the best. Share what I am able to do, and not worry too much about having to have the coolest thing that everyone else has.
Less Instagram. Less time-wasted scrolling endlessly on things. Of course, checking in with friends, and commiserating with people who will commiserate with me in return - you know, how a freaking friendship works (as in, you know, not with the accounts that get so many damn notifications they can't possibly see everything).
Oh, and miniature dachshunds. Because those little sausages are adorable.
~Havok
A quote for your weekend:
"Life is a combination of magic and pasta" - Federico Fellini
May your weekend be full of pasta and relaxations.
P.S. Algorithms are cool. The idea behind the whole thing, I do believe, comes from a good place. I just don't see how it would be implemented properly to work for everyone. Google searches are an algorithm, and how often do you have to go down to page 10 in Google to get what you want? More than likely, it has what you need on the first page, if not in the first five entries. But that's based on information, in one way or another, and not based on what it thinks you will like - that's the difference...and the problem.
I agree that Instagram is another time sucker - I'm guilty of wasting many hours on it! The sales stuff though, it's a little much! My feeds recently have been flooded with etsy stuff!
ReplyDeleteSo many hours - but so many cool things to see! And yet, so many sales, so much Etsy, and so little "look at what I made" and more "look at what I bought, and you should too!" I'm all for supporting small businesses, that's great, but when the funds aren't there, they just aren't there. Or, when you try and put some money aside for it and the shop is so popular, by the time you see the Instagram update about the shop and go look, everything is sold out, so the only way to be able to get something it so stalk Instagram even more...it's a vicious cycle and I'm really just tired of it xD
DeleteThank you so much for stopping by - I'm glad someone else feels the same way about it!
Yeah, that new algorithm seems ridiculous, but of course they want to exert more control over people's feeds so that they can sell more $$ advertising. I'm not too pleased about it, but I also don't pretend I can possibly stay on top of all the social media. Nothing in life is free, I guess!
ReplyDeleteIt's not ridiculous in that they mean well. It's ridiculous that I've a feeling you have no way to control it, other than manually going to certain people's pages more often than you do now, to ensure that their stuff shows up in your feed. Or, turning notifications on...but that's too many notifications #SorryNotSorry
DeleteIt is about money, though. You scroll longer to make sure you've seen everything, they have more options to give you ads. In just the past few weeks, with even my limited time spent on Instagram, I've noticed a huge increase in ads.
Nothing is free, and that is true, but it's run by Facebook. They could easily afford to keep Instagram free, if they chose to do so, especially considering they bought it before it had the ads. Also, since you cannot use it from desktop well, and adblocking programs aren't up to snuff on mobile, they're going to make a lot of people angry (those who enjoy adblock, ha).
It sucks, but that's how these things, sadly, tend to go. And I doubt they'll take the Twitter route, of having something dismissable at the top of your feed. It'd be nice, though!
Thank you so much for stopping by!