This is incredibly helpful! Thank you for putting in all the effort to give this useful information. I'm actually deleting my Instagram account at the end of this week, not that I ever used it for marketing, it was more for conversation and friendships. I've written a whole blog post about why I'm leaving and I might add a link to this post of yours if you're happy with that?
Of course you can link to it, yes. I look forward to reading your post about it, too. I think I would probably have left if it weren't for using it for marketing purposes. I think there's a decent chance I will leave at some point in the next year or two if it continues as it is. But there's still some point in my being there. Maybe!
It was bad enough when they only let us see top hashtags and recent top hashtags. And it's also not just about clients, what about challenges like Folktale Week and Inktober? If I'm not already following someone, hashtags are how I can see what other people are doing and contribute to the sense of community. If I were just starting out on Instagram, I wouldn't even see the point of staying on the platform. Not to mention the scraping of images for AI...
Thanks for taking the time to evaluate and share your list of other platforms!
I agree I don't think I'd be setting anything up on IG if I were starting now. Yes, I love following the challenge hashtags, especially when I'm taking part in them, but also when I'm not so I can see what everyone else is doing (especially Folktale Week, actually, because I never manage to take part but absolutely love seeing what people come up with). We can still search by hashtags, so it's just the following aspect, but it feels like a pointless change to me.
I think I've opted out of having my posts used for AI - but honestly who knows how secure that is. Grrrr
I guess if we can still search for hashtags, it's not as bad, but still! It just seems that they are continuing to make changes that will only benefit the top accounts. I actually follow hashtags for artist residencies and open calls - I haven't applied to any of them, but I like to hear about them, which I guess I can't anymore. :( I'm in the US, so we don't have that option, but I did get my husband to opt me out when he was in Portugal back in June! I still have been cautious about posting though. I guess the upside is that it makes me less likely to create art "for Instagram."
Love that "keywords in your email" tip - never thought of that! Super useful for other mediums, too, like music and photography.
Oh yes, it applies for all sorts of things and probably relevant for anyone working in a freelance capacity.
This is incredibly helpful! Thank you for putting in all the effort to give this useful information. I'm actually deleting my Instagram account at the end of this week, not that I ever used it for marketing, it was more for conversation and friendships. I've written a whole blog post about why I'm leaving and I might add a link to this post of yours if you're happy with that?
Of course you can link to it, yes. I look forward to reading your post about it, too. I think I would probably have left if it weren't for using it for marketing purposes. I think there's a decent chance I will leave at some point in the next year or two if it continues as it is. But there's still some point in my being there. Maybe!
😄 Maybe...
Here's the link to my post. It's long and not very exciting. (I'm really good at marketing, aren't I?) https://www.robynhepburn.com/blog/why-i-am-leaving-instagram
Love it. And good luck with leaving!
Thank you!
It was bad enough when they only let us see top hashtags and recent top hashtags. And it's also not just about clients, what about challenges like Folktale Week and Inktober? If I'm not already following someone, hashtags are how I can see what other people are doing and contribute to the sense of community. If I were just starting out on Instagram, I wouldn't even see the point of staying on the platform. Not to mention the scraping of images for AI...
Thanks for taking the time to evaluate and share your list of other platforms!
I agree I don't think I'd be setting anything up on IG if I were starting now. Yes, I love following the challenge hashtags, especially when I'm taking part in them, but also when I'm not so I can see what everyone else is doing (especially Folktale Week, actually, because I never manage to take part but absolutely love seeing what people come up with). We can still search by hashtags, so it's just the following aspect, but it feels like a pointless change to me.
I think I've opted out of having my posts used for AI - but honestly who knows how secure that is. Grrrr
I guess if we can still search for hashtags, it's not as bad, but still! It just seems that they are continuing to make changes that will only benefit the top accounts. I actually follow hashtags for artist residencies and open calls - I haven't applied to any of them, but I like to hear about them, which I guess I can't anymore. :( I'm in the US, so we don't have that option, but I did get my husband to opt me out when he was in Portugal back in June! I still have been cautious about posting though. I guess the upside is that it makes me less likely to create art "for Instagram."
I think they're also wanting us to pay for ads, probably. But I think there are definitely better ways to spend money.