RustyBug
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Upload & Sell: On
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RoamingScott wrote:
Influencers are DESPERATE to keep their following numbers because it's what makes them money. IG is raking them over the coals and has them dead to rights, and the influencers are paying up. IG is making money hand over fist from this model. Does it work for people like you and me that just want to be left alone and post photos? Nope, but that's not FB/IG's problem, and we aren't their target market any longer.
RoamingScott wrote:
The algorithm completely favors video content over photos, and if you aren’t paying to sponsor your posts, or if you aren’t making ADHD friendly reels, you’ll never get seen any more.
...Show more →
I don't have an account (considering one, though). My take on the intense shift > video is:
Micro-Reels = Hamster Wheel
Keeps the engine running of "new content" and "new views", which keeps activity ever-increasing, which keeps "traffic" higher, to render the "numbers game" of marketing real estate value higher. Kinda like billboards in Times Square ... rather than a static billboard on a dusty, section of old Route 66.
More content = more visitors = more traffic for the novelty (change / different). Consider the length of a TV or radio spot. In the old days, longer spots were the norm. Now, we get commercials in a variety of sizes, down to micro-spots less than 15 seconds of 8-10 seconds, even 5 seconds or so. To that end, IG going down this path as a business model is understandable to me. They are in it to make money, not to be a public service to stills photographers ... whatever drives their engine(s) faster, will be where they want to emphasize things ... even if still photography WAS their "hamster du jour".
So, as I consider making an account, I have to ask myself if my purpose is to use it 1) as a primary marketing tool (for my own purposes) or 2) am I using it as a stepping-stone promotional tool / landing page. Or, 3) just as a "mini-portfolio" ... 4) Other 
For me, I don't see myself using it as a primary marketing tool (Micro-Reels / Hamster Wheel). Times Square, here I come isn't likely for me. Rather, more of a "mini-portfolio" (bridging elsewhere ) that folks can get to in that platform ... a platform with a feed (vs. a straight website) or is "phone friendly".
As I consider setting up an IG account, I'm asking myself what my expectations of it are. For me, I think I intend to use it more of mini-gallery / stepping stone / landing page ... but, can still "promote" things if I should decide to get on the Hamster Wheel down the road.
There's an old adage of I'd rather have 1% of 100 people, than 100% of 1 person. IG (social media in general) takes this adage to the nth degree, using everyone as their own set of billions of hamsters to row their boat.
But, since I haven't played in this space ... wth do I know. 
Diggin' the dialogue. 
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