Reports of Instagram’s Death Are Greatly Exaggerated
Meta’s various apps are the closest we have the US to everything apps. The feature sets are deep enough that people can use them in different ways.
in multiple interviews with 15- to 26-year-olds, Gen Z people, they said that they used Instagram to keep in touch with friends, scope out crushes, build businesses, and pour over cooking videos. But out of all of its features, they seemed least interested in the polished public photo feed that had once been Instagram’s marquee offering.
But Instagram (and TikTok) aren’t social networks, they’re social media
it feels more comfortable to post on TikTok than it does on Instagram. And I think that’s a common narrative and sentiment that we hear all the time. But I think the reality is that most people, young people in particular, don’t really feel comfortable posting anywhere at this point
Instagram is a mix of entertainment, inbox (DMs as the new email), and search. At least for younger users.
What does this mean for how brands use Instagram?
The traditional feed is certainly easiest for most. But how much are people engaging with this “legacy” feature.
On-platform search plus Google indexing posts for off-platform search means the Instagram feed is more like Pinterest than TikTok. A visual microblog.