I am so not "getting" this Instagram thing / do you guys want to look at each others pictures?

Instagram has started to suggest MAGA/Covid conspiracy stuff way too regularly - and Paramore stan accounts. I don't follow anything political on IG and I'm not sure I've ever actually heard a Paramore song.

I primarily look at instagram on my laptop, not on my phone.. and for the longest time I saw no ads at all, and nobody I didn't know or agree to to follow

Now it's probably 25% ads and 30% people I've never heard of

this is why i don't leave the house

I don't look at it much, and I'm glad my feed is appropriately limited to people playing drums or synths/DJing, but it's still feels like 50% people I don't follow (including a few popular ones that get served over and over again) and I generally hate the whole vibe.

so nice that there's an app solely dedicated to showing you videos of "comic" dialogues where one person plays all the parts

Oh, there's more than just one app for that.

Also know why insta doesn't have the same vibe as tiktok? The way insta makes the screen go up and down after a video finishes to prompt you to swipe.

Like, dammit, I was going to re-watch this wacky weatherman clip again, but now you're just making me seasick.

"Helpfulness" aside, it's wild that insta wouldn't consider viewers watching the same video multiple times.

my favourite feature is when you want to watch some (dreadful pointless comedy meme) clip but you get interrupted and close the app. when you reopen you see the clip for a tantalising fraction of a second before you get scrolled to the top of your timeline, with no way of finding the clip ever again because it was from an account you don't follow.

i just got a popup notification in an instagram group chat about an opportunity for me to start selling products. it let me know i can "share a product in the chat to start collecting orders for it."

just sharing this here as an invitation to join my new group chat on instagram, one of the fastest growing chats, and i need to tell you about some recent products that have changed my life

I love how every time I post something creative, I get lots of messages from all these bots about how I should use their service to get my stuff promoted

I have no intent, nor interest, in joining Threads, but even less motivated to do so since the launch seems to have broken Instagram in the process. Within hours of the launch, 80% of the posts on my feed show up as blank grey squares, 10% show up as very blurry, the rest (sponsored ads, natch) appear just fine. Stories load about 20% of the time and almost every avatar is a blank grey circle. Good job Zuck!

So my feed still doesn't load and now Stories never load. Video posts load about 80% of the time, but photo posts are still a grey box. Apparently not a widespread enough issue for Meta to actually fix it, but according to Reddit and Twitter there are quite a few people dealing with the same thing. At least Twitter is still functional as it circles the drain, but I've never seen an app just completely stop doing the main thing it's intended to do (i.e. show photos) for this long before.

What the heck is happening with Instagram?

I’m someone who uses the platform through a browser app on my smartphone, not through the Insta app.

And for the last couple days I just can’t find any way to post things. It’s as though that has simply been taken away for absolutely no reason.

Maybe make sure your software isn’t in need of an update? Usually something like that is the cause.

Evan, thanks! I’ll give that a shot.

when did they change the views when you click on a hashtag from 'top posts / recent posts' to 'top posts / filter' and if you click on filter it brings up a menu with 'top posts / top recent posts' options? absolute dogshit ui design. i want recent posts not top recent posts, and two buttons where one performs an action and the other one brings up a menu which only contains two options one of which is the same as the first button has real 'ui design is my passion' energy.

I am getting ads for *ticketed* listening parties at music venues for albums like AFX SAW2 or MBV-MBV ...

I had no idea this was a thing and it makes me really grateful that I was around to see these artists live in person for less $ than these listening parties cost.

you guys know what 'Sodastream' is right? this kitchen appliance that makes seltzer out of water?
I've never searched for the thing. Never even thought about it after a co worker mentioned they bought one -- maybe 10 year ago.
Yesterday I bought a liter bottle of seltzer and drank it throughout the day - opening it several times at my WFH desk. Of course each time I opened it, the bottle made that hissing, escaping carbonated gas sound.
Today I log on to insta and the first ad I see is one for Sodastream.

most record review accounts are really annoying but i am quite enjoying this one atm:
https://www.instagram.com/soundwavesoffwax/

Plate of shrimp

Xxp Mossad must have you bugged

(Sodastream is an Israeli company)

I think the people who actually understand the tech (not me, notably) have tried to explain over and over that your phone isn't bugged, and isn't listening to you. It is, however, linked to accounts that know your shopping behavior and also know what other people you've been near and places you've been.

I visited my parents halfway across the country and my mom said verbally that she bought an item, I had never heard of it or searched for it or seen it before, but after I went to her house, the item showed up in my soc med feeds...because her device and my device were together, at the same location where that item was purchased and delivered to.

I consider myself pretty laid back about modern life but i have become a borderline crank when it comes to this shit, I hate it all

yeah i dig that soundwavesoffwax acct, 1 day that'll be my kids & i'll be the deceased geezer & they'll be going what the fuck is the deal with all these enoch light albums

I had a bad few days last week when YouTube recommended me a new self-released album with a suspiciously similar title to an album I had put out myself on bandcamp a few months ago. It had AI art too.
It was probably just a coincidence but it just made me feel awful.

omg, you guys never told me about Chef Reactions!! he is so funny. every time i watch one i think its my favorite one. please don't tell me he's a trumper where you live and several ex-girlfriends have put restraining orders out on him! because he's so funny. i also appreciate that he never makes fun of what people look like/what they are wearing/their accents. just their horrible cooking. 10 out of 10 instagram content!

https://www.instagram.com/chefreactions/

https://www.instagram.com/p/C-fhgwLxTIC/

lol

skot do you follow wayne shen @foodiechina888? could see it being too grating/repetitive for some but i love it

will check it out.

chef reactions is v good, i dig it!

sodastream has been advertising a lot more lately.

Been enjoying "Airplane Facts with Max" - may be of particular interest to Ned.

https://www.instagram.com/airplanefactswithmax

Absolutely no reach for my art reels and posts beyond a few friends I know in The Actual World. I remember when my previous IG accounts, now hacked and impossible to recover, would get looks from folks all over.
If not posting on IG there’s zero evidence that I’m a working illustrator. Have a nice website but ya think people will look at a website? Nahh.

Same.
It’s true that you have to pay for reach these days

"If not posting on IG there’s zero evidence that I’m a working illustrator."

you need a tiktok!

you just get a crazy amount of views on tiktok. i remember when my son showed me his account that i didn't even know he had and he had, like, 40,000 views on things. he just posts images/illustrations/etc. stuff he's into.

i love his tiktok account by the way. its very cool. he's way cooler than me. he's 19.

https://✧✧✧.tik✧✧✧.c✧✧✧@real✧✧✧.virtue✧✧✧?lang=en

oh i guess you can't do tiktok on ilx.

his account is: realite.virtuelle

Scott you’re very close to convincing me. I shall investigate!

I think the people who actually understand the tech (not me, notably) have tried to explain over and over that your phone isn't bugged, and isn't listening to you. It is, however, linked to accounts that know your shopping behavior and also know what other people you've been near and places you've been.
― Ima Gardener (in orbit), Wednesday, September 18, 2024 4:10 PM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is what i thought too but can you explain this

https://archive.is/ckFB2

404 Media previously reported Cox Media Group (CMG) was advertising a service that claimed to target ads based on what potential customers said near device microphones. Now, here is the pitch deck CMG sent to prospective companies. Google has kicked CMG off its Partner Program in response.

The Threads posts that are randomly shown to me in my insta feed are wild, only the most bitter clickbait from musicians about marketing, reach, and how much the industry sucks, usually in the form of bad sanctimonious advice. I'm always so glad I don't have the app installed, because I press on them against my better judgement and it's a relief when they don't open.

As someone who uses threads a lot, I can confirm that there's tons of this stuff on there constantly.

I use Instagram for photography and mainly follow other photography things, and the Threads things I get shown are 100% "bitter clickbait from photographers about marketing, reach, and how much the industry sucks, usually in the form of bad sanctimonious advice".

Haha, good to know

it’s sort of like when you’re shopping and you overhear a really loud obnoxious conversation

do any of you have an example of what you mean? morbid curiosity mostly ...

nb i have never had an instagram lol -- i must feel these sick pleasures vicariously

Insta teases Threads content and it’s almost always inflammatory in some way to get you to click on it (leave insta/go to Threads which afaict is pure garbage?)
I’ve seen a barrage of disingenuous questions like “will someone explain what’s going on with Diddy and Justin?” Or bs about how everyone is “doing menopause weight loss wrong” or some other poorly aimed targeted bullshit.

I just hit 300 followers. Feel blessed

was locked out of my band’s account for a few weeks and once again dealing with the facebook/meta backend makes you realize how deeply broken and fucked these apps have become in the past decade