The social media platform Instagram launched in late 2010 and was a way for users to share photos of everything ranging from their #OOTD (outfit of the day) to vacation trips around the world. But with Instagram hitting the 10-year mark, sometimes things change. 

I have had an Instagram account since 2014, and there have certainly been some big changes on the app that drove me away from it. 

The Instagram platform has changed so much from how it originally started. Those ways include the order that followers can see your posts. There was recently an update to Instagram only that resulted in your posts being shown to 10% of your followers. It is unmotivating knowing not even all of your followers can see your posts because they follow you for a reason. 

Instagram also became a big platform for people to promote their small businesses. In March 2019, Instagram launched the Instagram Check-Out,  which is a feature so active users can buy company items directly from the app; so you don’t need to leave it. To me, this just seems invasive and shows that they are just another company that wants money out of you. When I go on Instagram, I am just there to look at some cool pictures, I’m not aiming to buy something directly. 

Over time, so many new apps started up and got their recognition. In 2019, TikTok started to blow up. Users on the app can post random videos that range from 15-60 seconds. TikTok was able to have everybody intrigued and that resulted in Instagram taking the idea and trying to make it their own. 

Reels, introduced in 2020, are short videos that give you the same content as TikTok. Instagram did that because they saw what’s popular and tried to twist up the idea and make it their own.  trying to drive users towards their app. But in reality, it flopped and no one used it that much. They also borrowed the idea of direct messaging and Instagram stories from Snapchat. 

Also, a lot of content users put out on their profile is kind of just recycled content. We’ve all seen it before so there isn’t much to do on the app anymore. For example, these popular pages on Instagram just repost stuff from Twitter or TikTok and call it content. If I wanted to see that type of content, I would just go where it was originally posted. 

All in all, Instagram doesn’t feel the same anymore. I think the app has just gotten very repetitive and isn’t as interesting to me anymore. I feel like content on the app just isn’t as fun and I’d rather spend my free time doing anything else.