Good afternoon earthlings, and a happy Hump Day to all! This morning while I was working out (yes, I’m working out again. No, I’m not happy about it) I started thinking about the new Instagram update. I have written about Instagram previously on ALP, really focusing on the over use and exploitation of self when it comes to the functionality of the app and its user. Today instead of taking a retrospective route on Instagram, I would like to tell everyone how unhappy I am with their newest update.
Instagram always gave us the freedom to be voyeurs into lives that are not our own. The longer Instagram has been around the more and more used it becomes. So, obviously with use by millions upon millions of users updates are expected. The 4 major titans remain in the Game of Social Media. We have Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. While other social media platforms such as Vine, have been put out of business due to the better user friendly features of the 4 social media titans. I always enjoyed the four titans because all 4 were different. Each app had its own specific functionality:
- Twitter is for your 140 character count thoughts. A decent source for all sorts of news and a platform for you to share the short blurbs in your head with the rest of the world.
- Facebook is a great way to connect businesses, families, and people of like minds. Facebook is the default Social Media platform. It has almost become a form of identification. The moment your Grandparents joined Facebook, showed us just how user friendly and easy it is to use.
- Snapchat is for your random rants, private photos you only want to share with specific people, and basically being shady. Snapchat is so private and is an app based on photo and video sharing…so I will let everyone draw their own conclusions on what it is most widely used for (and no, its not for sharing photos of your family vacation with your Aunt Marge).
- Instagram is a great platform to promote your business, share your art, and connect with people who live lives you only wish you did. It’s an app that let’s us get close and personal to fame, fortune, and the good life while you are still sitting in your parents basement scratching you’re ass.
But, now the line between the apps have blurred. Instagram has added features that were exclusively being utilized by Snapchat, and to me the line between the apps have totally blurred. Like Snapchat, Instagram now alerts users for “ScreenShotting” and also has added the “Story” feature. Some people might think it’s convenient instead of switching between Snapchat and Instagram, they can now switch to one app and be able to do all of the same features. I on the other hand do not agree with the shade that Instagram has thrown on Snapchat. I like keeping all of my social media separate and I liked the exclusivity that both of these apps gave me. As Someone that makes their livelihood on the Internet this matters to me, I don’t want to be notified every single time one of my followers takes a Screen Shot of one of my Instagram posts, I also don’t enjoy switching between two apps to look at two different “Stories”.
Instagram is just gonna keep throwing their Instashade on Snapchat, the more updates Snapchat comes up with be sure that Instagram will be right behind them following suit. I just hope for the sake of usability and privacy Snapchat stays around and doesn’t ever become the gravesite that is now Vine. Remember guys, if you love an app download it! Your downloads are what keeps their doors open and running (along with the ridiculous amount of advertising dollars). No matter how alike Snapchat and Instagram are they are still both different, and should both be recognized for their differences. Even if Instagram is a being a bit of a copy cat at the moment, Snapchat did the story first, they brought us filters first, and have always given us much needed privacy so don’t forsaken that Snapchat Account.
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