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

It's not new, but yes. Hit the logo in the top left and choose 'following' to get rid of all (or most) of the rubbish. You have to do this every time you open the app.

Thanks!

Facebook being nothing but scammy ads and suggested posts makes sense because everyone I actually know has stopped posting there (I have to keep it for work) but Meta fucking up Instagram in the same way has been impressive.

The instagram image editor seems to have gone to shit - if I'm posting multiple images (as I usually do) then if I move one image in the viewport so it's centred where I want it to be, when I go to the next image the first one just resets itself. The last one edited works - so posting single images is fine.

I tend not to post multiple images, partly because they have to follow the same aspect ratio (and I think I've had this issue you're reporting), and also because there's a loss of quality (or used to be).
This probably makes my feed extra tedious, as I just post 5-6 images from the same place all the time.

I like DIY and "slow fashion" trends but let's just say that "cottage core" is not something I want to see...

As bad as coastal mom.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRsrsShs/

Why is this house "cottage core" where I live it's just "urbex" (also run its course on Instagram)?

I use mine for microblogging and from random comments I get, this seems discouraged.

Unfair, what gets favored is the whole "influencer" culture where people make daily posts with a consistent theme - fashion, design, etc.

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.