Instagram will only get worse

I’m once again trying something new with this little newsletter. My venture in creating low content books didn’t go very well. I sold a few, but it was far more effort than it was worth. Zero stars, do not recommend.

So, moving forward, I’m just going to write about things that interest me. Hopefully, some of them will interest you too.

By now, you’ve probably seen this video from the Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri.

In it, he doubles down on their commitment to more video and more “recommendations” (read: ads) in your Instagram feed. Or maybe you’ve read this short little tweet thread from him where he blames us for the lack of friend content in your feed:

If you use Instagram, it’s immediately apparent why this tweet is ridiculous. The reason that the growth in photo and videos has been in stories and DMs is because Instagram has destroyed the main feed.

A lot of well intentioned people are providing great feedback about how to “fix” this problem. Instagram could provide two separate feeds, one for video and one for photos. It could allow you to choose your experience in a more granular way. It could let you set your “following” feed as your default view. So many clear paths to improve the product for users.

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but these suggestions will be ignored. Instagram is only going to get worse. Let’s talk about why.

You’re not their target audience

If you’re like me, you’ve had an Instagram account for a while. I joined Instagram in January of 2012, so I’ve been on the platform for over 10 years. Why did I join? To see pictures posted by my friends and family. The value prop was very simple, and the interface was as well. Post a picture, like a picture, that was pretty much it.

If you joined Instagram for the same reasons, Instagram no longer cares about you as a user. Watch that video again. Adam talks about building a platform for creators, especially small creators. That’s interesting, because I didn’t join Instagram to find “creators.” I joined to see pictures of my friends and family. Instagram has decided they must compete with TikTok, so they’ve adopted TikTok’s users as their new target user. If you are not a creator, Instagram is going to continue to disappoint you. They aren’t interested in serving you content from your network any longer. Their goals are different now.

You’re the user, but you’re not the customer

Any time you see a statement from a product person at a social media company, there’s always some obfuscation going on. This video is a prime example. Adam talks about users and creators and refining recommendations to work for you! It’s enough to make you think that we are his customers and that Instagram is doing all it can to please us.

But that’s not true.

We are users, but we are not customers. Instagram’s customers are businesses that buy advertising on their platform. They are keenly aware of this, and if you view their product decisions through the lens of their actual customer base, they start to make a lot more sense.

Instagram’s product roadmap is not driven by user requests. It’s driven by customer requests, and our interests don’t always align with theirs. Customers want users to spend as much time as possible on the platform. Users want to see the content relevant to them and then leave. Customers want users to follow more accounts, so that it takes them longer to get through their feed. Users don’t want to follow a bunch of superfluous accounts, we are there for the pictures. Instagram’s product direction is completely sane when you think about it from the perspective of ad buyers.

The old adage in product is, “If you’re not paying for a product, then YOU are the product.” Social media platforms are textbook examples of this. Your attention is being sold. As long as that is true, your needs will be secondary to the needs of the actual customer.

They don’t care what you want, they care what you do

This is true of every social network, but you hear it clearly in the message from Adam above. That’s what he means when he says:

Instagram’s goal is to sell your attention, not provide a product you love. They work to maximize engagement, not personal satisfaction. More engagement = more time on site. More time on site = more ad revenue.

When you view Instagram through this lens, their direction makes a lot more sense. Everyone might want more friend content in their feed, but Instagram has discovered they can keep you on site longer if it’s not there. That is all that matters to them.

So what do we do?

I have no idea. I’m still using Instagram, and trying to fight against UX and product decisions to make it bearable. It’s an uphill climb. They do have the option to only view people you’re following, but you can’t enable it by default. I’ve been using stories a lot more lately because I see more content from people I know there. But it’s not the service I signed up for 10 years ago. I’d love to find a substitute, but it always comes back to the same problem: for a substitute to be viable, we ALL have to use it. The value of Instagram is seeing the lives of my network. A better service with none of my network is useless.

What are you doing to deal with bad Instagram? Have you found an alternative? If so, let me know, I want to join you there.

What I’m consuming

A short list of things I’m enjoying right now. Maybe you’ll like them too. 

• I’ve somehow convinced my 10 year old daughter that Lucius is her favorite band. Really digging their new album, Second Nature. I’m listening on Apple Music, but here it is on Spotify. Or you could buy a super cool vinyl over on Bandcamp.

• Working my way through Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. I’m a slow reader so this one is taking me a while, but I really love it so far. If you like smart sci-fi with complicated characters, it’s worth checking out.

• Picked up the Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo Batman run that debuted with the New 52. It’s not new, but I’ve really enjoyed it, and I could see this run with the Court of Owls storyline being great source material for The Batman sequel that’s in the works. I got these from the library, which I highly recommend for reading old comic book runs.