Why Instagram sucks lately?
— by Alle Ceambur
If you’re reading this, you probably don’t enjoy using Instagram either.
When I started my business account (circa 2019) I made Instagram the central part of my marketing. I enjoyed sharing educational pieces of content, tutorials and life updates with my community.
Fast forward to 2022, I dread to even open my Instagram app.
So what has happened to Instagram? In this post, I’ll share a few things that I have noticed changed the way people interact on Instagram.
Why Instagram Sucks? 5 Reasons Why I don’t enjoy using Instagram anymore:
1. It’s forcing content creators to post Reels
I’m not a fan of Reels. Never have been.
And all I see when I open Instagram is, (you guess?) Reeeeeels. The main issue with Reels (aka. 15 sec. videos) is that they’re annoying, repetitive and not relevant.
I’m not mad at TikTok for introducing this style of videos, because their target audience goes to TikTok just for that purpose: To laugh at meaningless content.
But not on Instagram.
Most Instagram users want to feel connected to their friends, and brands they follow.
2. Too many ads and content from celebrities
Every second post on Instagram is an ad. And every 3rd story is a promoted post.
This creates an unbalance between content users like me who enjoy watching and feel like they’re being sold all the time.
The ads were always part of Instagram.
But it wasn’t until the integration of Facebook ads, Instagram Shops and Messenger into one big advertising machinery that we are bombarded with the same ads across multiple social networks.
The problem with ads?
They’re disruptive.
If I have to watch 3 ads in 5 minutes just to catch up with my friends — I will think twice about even opening my Instagram.
This also leads me to the next disadvantage of Instagram.
3. The sense of community & close relationships is vanishing
Instagram used to be the main platform for building meaningful relationships with your friends, fans and family. It wasn’t about watching celebrity content and ads that make you feel so far away from their lifestyle.
The image that most celebrities and influencers are spreading on Instagram is also not a genuine one. Their photos are highly edited, filtered, and enhanced to look like their life is perfect.
And if you don’t look like them, can’t afford their expensive lifestyle or don’t have a perfectly happy life — you shouldn’t post content. Because nobody’s gonna “like” it anyway.
If you have a regular life, want to meet and talk to like-minded people — Instagram is no longer that platform.
4. Takes a lot of effort to post content on Instagram vs other apps
Imagine you’re a new business owner having to choose which social media platform to market on. But you can’t afford to hire a full-time social media manager or agency to do your content.
Instagram is currently one of the most demanding platforms for content creators.
So why should marketers bother with Instagram?
It takes so much work just to get seen (we haven’t even touched on Paid Ads).
In comparison, you could just copy & paste a link from your website/blog post on Twitter or LinkedIn and call it a day!
No other social media platform has so many content formats and steps to publishing content.
5. Instagram will block your account for no reason
I’ve shared my personal story of how getting my Instagram account deactivated for “impersonating” myself has affected me and my business.
And I am not the only one. There are about 1000 people that wrote to me telling me they’re desperately trying to get back their deactivated Instagram accounts. And the majority don’t ever get a response back.
The reality is simple: Instagram just sucks for users.
If they see that you don’t post regularly or post too much all of a sudden, they can say that you’re acting like a spammer and have your account locked.
And good luck with getting it back!
PS: I have an article with the steps I took to recover my account in 2021. May not work for everyone, but this is what worked for me.
What are your thoughts on Instagram?
Do you still enjoy using it?
Hi, I’m Alle. I’m a full-time content marketer and blogger for tech. Check out my website to get more updates on marketing topics and tips for growing your business.
Originally published at https://alexandraceambur.com on February 18, 2022.
