Edition Forty Seven

Photography life after Instagram.

Instagram.

Remember the first time you downloaded the app onto your phone? I can’t remember this exact date but I do remember why I wanted to do it.

I wanted to become an influencer.

If enough people followed me I would get noticed. After getting noticed it would be a short ride to being sponsored, taking photos in exotic places and shooting with the best gear. This is what I dedicated my Instagram to initially. Trying to become a “sponsored” photographer.

Stupid right?

As I continued along my photography journey things changed. As Instagram continued through the years as a social media giant it too changed. It added new features to either improve or to try and beat competitors.

And in the process it lost its way. Did things go south when Meta purchased Instagram? Was it with the introduction of Reels and Stories to become more focused on video content? Regardless of the reason for its growing dislike among photographers Instagram isn’t the same place it used to be.

Traditional social media is slowly losing its flavor. We are becoming more conscious of how we spend our time.

In this edition I look at Instagram: is it dying, what did it leave us with and how will we share photos if we leave it.

A future without Instagram.

“It took 7.7 years for Instagram since its launch to reach more than 1 billion monthly active users and 11.2 years to hit 2 billion monthly active users worldwide.”

Look at those statistics.

Something which grows this much isn’t dying. But we should look a little bit more at the growth. Think back to your last scroll through your feed. How many of these posts offer little value and only look to sell your something. So it isn’t really new photographers driving the growth. Perhaps a percentage but overall I think advertisers are flocking to the platform because of the 2 billion monthly active users.

Instagram doesn’t seem to be dying.

Everyone is looking to sell you something.

It went from growing to mutating. And if you ask different people, you get a different answer. The advertiser gives a resounding no. The people addicted to reels & stories also say heck no. If you search for statistics there is a clear indication of life.

If you ask the photographers among us, Instagram, as a photography platform, is dying. It’s not the same as before. It moved away from photos to video in order to get into the fight with TikTok (for attention). Like a heavyweight losing weight to fight in a different class.

It wasn’t the best way to share photos.

You had to wade through a sea of hashtags. If you were lucky and you picked a less popular hashtag which still had some followers your work could be seen. Tick boxes like right time, right hashtags, follow this account and tag ten people. To be seen on Instagram required many things to be right.

I don’t want to use the words mass exodus but many photographers have decided they don’t like the new Instagram. Add to this the awakening of many people who feel social media isn’t adding any value to their lives.

If you are tired of Instagram what else can you consider?

Instagram left a bad taste in the mouth of the photographer.

We learned a lot of bad habits around photo sharing during the height of the Instagram era.

Empty promises.

This was due to one key thing: metrics.

We became addicted to likes. Our eyes lit up as the notifications appeared. In our misguided approach it made sense to plan how our photos would get the most likes. The right time. The right hashtags. The right day. We thought if we ticked all the boxes, somehow, our images would go viral. From there a short stop to Influencer city.

For a while it worked. You might not have gotten famous but your photos got some attention. Then the algorithm changed. We felt lost because no likes meant a bad photo, right?

The algorithm screwed us! Or did it?

These algorithm changes might have been a wake-up call. If Instagram disappeared from my phone today how would I share photos? If metrics hold no more sway what would our photo sharing habits be like?

When the push to share isn’t as big we start to see a shift in our sharing habits. There isn’t the pressure to share everything. You don’t want to share the photo of your morning cup of coffee or your toothbrush. You focus on more meaningful images and move towards private sharing.

Getting your photos out to people will take a lot more work in the traditional way. Using newsletters and going back to websites for example.

With this move away from a consistent publishing schedule we can afford to be a bit more creative. The time we spent on trying to achieve social media perfection is best spent on something else. Something like finding your unique perspective. Experimenting with different techniques.

Doing things which actually improve your photography.

Without Instagram what will our photo sharing habits be?

I will speak from the perspective of the hobby photographer. The person who might want to sell some photos and also engage, and build, an audience. If Instagram isn’t part of your photo sharing routine what other options can you look at?

When it rains, it pours.

You can focus on dedicated photo sharing platforms such as Flickr. These platforms are better fits for portfolios. The high quality of the images you can upload gives a potential buyer a better idea of your work. And it’s as easy to share your work with other people on them.

I mentioned personal websites and newsletters before but I will put a bit more focus on them today.

On your website you control the content people see. There are no algorithms pushing adverts onto your readers. They get to see content as it is posted. If you are unsure about whether you can set up your website don’t worry. Modern hosting solutions make this easy. I use a hosting platform which focuses on WordPress. This means as soon as I purchased the package, WordPress was a part of it. I don't have to worry about the big updates.

Newsletters are another option. Tie this in with your website and you can build a good system to showcase your work. We are familiar with Substack but there are many options out there. A quick search gives you pros and cons of each platform.

What goes out in your newsletter & website is up to you. The images you want to share. The message you want to send. No algorithm.

Only your voice in your readers’ inbox.

In closing.

Looking at all these things it is definitely possible to build a set of platforms to share your work. Newsletters are your means of introduction to the audience. Your website where you share your images. Flickr as a portfolio.

Building for yourself without Instagram is possible. It will take more time to reach an audience but once it gets going you know it’s yours. No tech overlord can take it away.

And it only plays to your algorithm.

Thanks for reading : )