https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-27/why-facebook-instagram-look-like-tiktok

Yuck.

Staying in touch with real-life friends is the only reason I still use Facebook, and Facebook's leadership wants to emphasize algorithmically-chosen content from random strangers over updates from people I actually know. I have no interest in TikTok (not just because TikTok's owner is in bed with the CCP!), and this change might give me a good reason to stop checking Facebook altogether.

Facebook has almost exclusively fed me ads for the past year-or-so. Most friends have moved onto Instagram or Discord. However now Instagram is prioritising 'interest' videos and it's peeving me a lot. I enjoy Tiktok and all (it's addictive as hell) but all I want to see in my Instagram is friends having fun / nice food, dang it.

Facebook and Instagram have definitely been pushing out more ads lately. Also, Facebook's desktop version has made sponsored posts harder to block using uBlock/FB Purity.


I've seen a lot of real-life friends ditch Facebook over the past couple of years - some deleted their accounts altogether, and some just stopped posting or logging in. Instagram is more popular than Facebook in my circles, although I'm seeing more stories and a lot fewer photo posts. (At least, as of June - I took a little break from Instagram because they ticked me off one time too many!)

Discord seems to be the most popular way for my online buddies to stay in touch these days. I haven't used Discord much to chat with people I know in real life, although I know some Discord users. Even one of the most senior managers in my work team has Discord pinned to his Dock.


Oh yeah, Instagram is really pushing the "recommended" stuff hard. I miss the days when Instagram was a cute little app for sharing square-shaped photos and seeing what your friends are up to!


TikTok isn't really my thing, but if it was my thing, I'd want TikTok to be TikTok and not have all the other social networks try to converge into the same shapeless mass. I remember in 2016, I had a pretty clear plan for what to post where - Facebook for personal things with close friends, Twitter for staying in touch with my wider circles, Instagram for pictures, and LinkedIn for professional things. Now, all of those networks have tried so hard to copy one another that they've stopped being good at their original missions.


I know sometimes people make fun of posting food pics on social media as the epitome of banality, but I actually like food pictures! If the poster made the dish themselves, that's really cool. And if it's from a restaurant, I might want to check it out sometime! Plus, food is usually a central part of the interesting things in life - vacations, holidays, parties, dates, and whatnot - that people might share on social media.