Instagram Denies Limiting the Reach of User Posts

Surely a non chronological feed to drive ad revenue is limiting post's reach.

"we never hide posts from people you're following - if you keep scrolling, you will see them all."

This is the problem though. In order to see my friend's posts, I had to scroll for roughly a minute or 2 non stop to get past the posts from companies and professional pages' posts, some of which were 4-5 days old. Posts from actual people that were 1 hour old were not even in the top 50 posts showing on my feed. There is an unrelated advert every fifth post as well on the feed, as well as every fifth story.

That along with the fact that they actively listen to you even when the screen is off and then feed you ads related to what you are talking about (I have experienced it twice, and many others send me proof of it the more I talk about it) means I deleted my Facebook and IG accounts, and the apps from all devices. Everything Facebook touches ends up poisoned.

I was in line at a clothing store paying for my daughter’s school clothes and there was a young lady, approximately in her mid 20’s, next to me at the other cashier. She was asked for her ID for some form of payment she was making. The very pretty but clearly depth-of-personality challenged young lady put her nose up in the air and said in a very condescending tone “I’m on Instagram as...Whatever...you can look me up”. And she honestly thought that was an acceptable form of ID and proceeded to argue the point and treated the cashier as if she were from the Stone Age for not knowing that.

My 14 year old looked at her, shook her head and shot her a :confused: look and said in a mumble that was still clear enough to be overheard “Old people! They think Instagram is everything.”

Yes she knew she was being a snarky little thing but she thought that person was being incredibly rude to the patient cashier and all the people in line waiting to be rung up. And not many teenagers can pass up an opportunity to burn a twenty-something.

I do think eventually Instagram will be the next old fart’s graveyard. Younger more savvy people will find it too cumbersome and find something more nimble and cool until the old marketing farts find a way to ruin the new thing, too.

Isn’t Instagram owned by Facebook?

I may be a minority but non-chronological feeds have had an impact on reducing my usage to almost nil.

I was in line at a clothing store paying for my daughter’s school clothes and there was a young lady, approximately in her mid 20’s, next to me at the other cashier. She was asked for her ID for some form of payment she was making. The very pretty but clearly depth-of-personality challenged young lady put her nose up in the air and said in a very condescending tone “I’m on Instagram as...Whatever...you can look me up”. And she honestly thought that was an acceptable form of ID and proceeded to argue the point and treated the cashier as if she were from the Stone Age for not knowing that.

My 14 year old looked at her, shook her head and shot her a :confused: look and said in a mumble that was still clear enough to be overheard “Old people! They think Instagram is everything.”

Yes she knew she was being a snarky little thing but she thought that person was being incredibly rude to the patient cashier and all the people in line waiting to be rung up. And not many teenagers can pass up an opportunity to burn a twenty-something.

I do think eventually Instagram will be the next old fart’s graveyard. Younger more savvy people will find it too cumbersome and find something more nimble and cool until the old marketing farts find a way to ruin the new thing, too.

Unlike Facebook that is still useful for some to arrange events or for news, Instagram is entirely about advertising and vanity. It has nothing of any substance. Quick, visual input that does nothing to enrich your life in any way. It's for "influencers" who do nothing but ruin the lives of people who become obsessed with having the next big thing. For people to fake their lives online to show how they've "made it", making others feel jealous etc. Instagram is not too big to fail, and as soon as something more streamlined or better comes along, everyone will jump ship.

The design language is clear with these infinite scroll feeds. You're intentionally meant to a. feel a lack of control over what you see; b. feel a sense of FOMO and a need to endlessly scroll to make sure you saw it all; and c. confuse the emotive response you get from seeing a friend's content with that of an advertiser.

These tech firms have some of the world's brightest and best - none of these design choices are mistakes.

Seriously, just delete it. Anyone who's all "I need it for marketing blah blah" - stop trying to monetize ridiculous want-trends. Make a better/more useful product.

Just stop following more than you can possibly read and your problem is solved. Who in their right mind can follow 2000 people who each post 3 photos a day. 6000 photos you are going to look at and give attention to? Please! Give some respect to the people.

The real news here should be that Insta has a Twitter account and uses it for announcements about its own service.

Back when it was chronological, I would scroll down to the first post I remember and work may way back up to the top. Once I got to the top I knew I was "caught up". Can't do that now, so I almost never open the app.