When I first started getting more into photography, I had a free Flickr account and enjoyed it. I could post my images into a gallery, browse the work of others and generally just enjoy admiring other peoples work. Then the company got bought out, limitations and subscriptions introduced so I ducked out and jumped on the Instagram bandwagon instead.
The news that Instagram will no longer be a photo sharing site, or at least that photography will no longer be their focus is very irritating. Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri said the company will focus in four areas instead; creators, video, shopping and messaging.
In some ways, it’s not a surprise. I enjoy Instagram a lot and have done since I first joined. It gives me a place to share my photos, and enjoy the photos of others, as well as following the work of pro photographers. However, I’ve noticed over the last few months, that a higher and higher percentage of my feed is now videos, adverts or clickbait trash. I’ve had my share of catfish and scammers too, and on occasion spent more time blissfully blocking those accounts than I have browsing photos.
These things have been spoiling my enjoyment of Instagram and this news makes me annoyed. Of course, I pay no money towards the platform so complaining about something that is free has it’s unfair side too. I might be ‘fuddy duddy’ in the thrill of not having a TikTok account nor any real intention of having one but I can sense Instagram wants to be all to everyone. And of course the social media behemoth Facebook owns Instagram and obviously wants to grab the TikTok viewers, and the so-called ‘influencers’ for ad revenue. Good for them.
Instagram’s feature set allowing me to post a pic, use hashtags and post a video story of my shoot with suitable graphics and music to suit the message and/or mood is enjoyable, and I don’t immediately think of an alternative. However, I hear that many photographers are uprooting or migrating to Twitter instead but I’ll wait to see how Instagram develops.
Some photographers are promoting the use of a protest hashtag #hereforthestills and as admirable as it is to protest, the four areas of Instagram’s new focus in themselves tells us that photos are no longer of any importance to them. Chasing millions of viewers for ad revenue is their game.
I can see the writing on the wall for photographers with Instagram as their primary means to share their work, but I’ll stay for the moment and observe.