Everything has its time
Do you guys remember MySpace? Or the German version of facebook called StudiVZ that was eventually being ruled out by - guess who - Facebook. All these social media platforms have one thing in common: They disappeared or lost their relevance.
Lately I’m having a feeling that the same thing is going to happen to Instagram. Almost everyone is frustrated with their engagement rate, thus they stop engaging or even stop posting at all, making their own accounts fade away into invisibility (I am obviously including myself to this group of users).
Sure enough the algorithm has or was changed a few months ago and most people were equally upset with this and so was I, but I kept on going because that was what I was used to. Taking photos and posting them on Instagram. But it became random and got even more infrequent after I took a two months break. I wasn’t very hyped when I came back, I didn’t want to post but when I did I felt like I was sacrificing a beloved photo for nothing. Putting it to grave. I posted, deleted, sometimes and super rarely I commented on other peoples photos but at the end of the day I spend no more than ten minutes in total on Instagram. It is over for me. I don’t want this any longer.
I owe Instagram my joy of photography, but i can luckily say that photography grew bigger than my social media ambitions. They can shut down every platform and switch off the whole internet I will still be running around with at least one camera in my bag shooting as if anyone will care when I’m dead about six terra bytes of footage of the lifetime of a simple man. I just love photography.
Recently I discovered the joy of reading blogs. Some people really manage to give a little insight about their life without being cringe, presenting some photos or reviewing gear and I appreciate this kind of effort way more than the average one sentence Insta caption like “OMG am I really in New York?”
Everything has it`s time. MySpace was pioneer, Facebook was great and so was Instagram, but it’s time to let go. Personally I am not waiting for a new platform to take over. It won`t get any better than the old Instagram was and that will never ever return. It was good times - probably the best when it comes to sharing photographs and getting in touch with great people. I will always remember that!
But that belongs to the past now. I am going to move on and find alternative ways for me.
