2020-12-26

Not on Instagram

Update 2022-12-24: I haven’t posted any posts on Instagram for the last 2 years. However, I’m still using the Story and Chat feature.

Yep, I left Instagram.

I was reading some tech news as usual and read one article from N. Analibi1, Assistant Professor, School of Information, University of Michigan about the new product changes to recent version of Instagram.

As you know instagram introduced “Shopping” tab in recent updates. At first, I don’t think it’s a big issue. Yes, I know they use my interests2, post I liked or message I sent to recommend something I might intrested to purchase in. However, it’s not that simple. I just thought about myself in this situation but didn’t think about others in this game.3 In the end, Instagram is a social network, I need chip my connections on Instagram to value this game.4

Let’s have a whole picture about this social game:

  1. You post something on Instagram, your friends view your post
  2. You also view the content your friends shared
  3. You constantly open Instagram becasue you want to see what your friends posted
  4. You friends constantly open Instagram to check what you posted
  5. Every actions have been recorded in the system

All the data used to generate your social profile to make their recommendation system more accurate. You become the energy and engine to power this data hunger machine, which in the end will make profit from you.

I don’t like this feeling. So I decided to leave.

I might start doing more 1 to 1 communication because broadcasting my life stories doesn’t really show my love to you. If you want to know how am I doing right now? You know how to contact me.

Footnotes

  1. Instagram’s redesign shifts toward shopping – here’s how that can be harmful ↩

  2. US10437615B2 ↩

  3. The Human in Emotion Recognition on Social Media: Attitudes, Outcomes, Risks ↩

  4. Harvard professor says surveillance capitalism is undermining democracy ↩