Several months ago Instagram caused consternation among photographers when, in an attempt to play catch-up with Tik Tok, it announced with a great deal of fanfare that it was altering its algorithms to favor reels and videos over still photography. After having received substantial backlash, not only from photographers themselves but general users as well, the Meta division is now apparently having a change of heart.
A recent report in Adweek, based on input from "four social strategist sources," holds that views of Reels on Instagram have fallen off sharply in the past few weeks. Such an abrupt change in algorithms is, of course, of most concern to major brands who now have to make major adjustments to their social media budgets and creative efforts, but it also impacts individual video creators struggling for recognition who now must drastically alter their strategies to achieve this end.
In spite of all the hand wringing, the move by Instagram was not entirely unexpected. Its head, Adam Mosseri, had already acknowledged on January 20th, according to a report on The Verge, that "I think we overfocused on video in 2022 and pushed ranking too far and basically showed too many videos and not enough photos."
While Instagram's turn from video back to still photography may pose a headache for the accounting and creative departments of large brands as well as for individual video creators, it is definitely good news for still photographers such as myself. I had actually intended, now that I've published my most recent novel And What If, to belatedly join Instagram, Tik Tok, and Tumblr in order to promote both the book and my photography as well as my recent work with AI-generated imagery, It now seems, at least as far as Instagram is concerned, that my timing is spot on.
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