Instagram has made multiple changes to its format since Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta bought the company. However, these decisions have not been favorable to photographers, who were once the main audience for the app. From a focus on bite-sized videos to a complete shift in content creation over art to a change in square format to rectangle, Instragam has muddied the experience for image-making communities. And now, it appears the platform wants to change its stand, but will it even work?
According to Reuters, Instagram’s chief, Adam Mosseri, is considering starting a separate app, something he recently conveyed to his staff. This move does not intend to help photographers but to “take advantage of TikTok’s uncertain status” in America. In fact, Edits, Meta’s new video-editing app, was also announced in January to help users who use TikTok’s parent company’s editing app, CapCut.
With this move, the question remains: Will people switch to Instagram anytime soon? The honest answer is still a huge no. According to the photographers on Reddit, they prefer Flickr, an app that is not part of a billion-dollar empire. This also means that Flickr has fewer ethical concerns, unlike Instagram, which has been called out for silencing the voices of Palestinians and other pressed groups. In fact, with Trump taking over, the chances of having hate speech are far higher now that they have replaced their fact-checking feature with X’s community notes. Why? Because crowd-sourced material can be flawed, our biases and stereotypes do come into play, which is likely to skew our opinion about a post.
At the same time, some photographers feel that this is too late. “Too late for me. I deleted my main Instagram account and three spares last month. It was just the most pointless platform for me as a photographer, and I honestly can’t point to a single benefit I gained from posting on it for over a decade. Everyone talks up the billions of users, but so bloody what, nobody sees your stuff or comments on it beyond the occasional fire emoji,” said one Reddit user. In fact, he suggested that photographers can look at alternatives such as “Flashes, Pixelfed, Fotos, Glass and Grainery,” all of which have “proper engagement” and “more brilliant photography.”
In another post, a photographer said that this may just be the end of Instagram itself: “The engagement ATM (at the moment) are reels (primarily brain rot content) separate app will cause mass migration and the definitive death of Instagram itself.” However, there is also a general opinion that Instagram will not change.
Either way, Instagram has been great for connecting with people but not for photography, and the chances of it changing are lower because Meta is all about profits. If they are trying to go after TikTok, then they will focus more on videos. The only thing other photography apps can do is slowly capitalize on this as Instagram struggles. Build their apps and create brand awareness so photographers can gradually migrate, connect, and sell their work. Instagram has become a giant in itself that needs more competitors. We aren’t sure how that will happen and whether Flickr will ever be able to break the content vs. engagement mold like Instagram once did. But for now, our hope is that it becomes possible.