Instagram hasn’t been a photo app for a long time now

Instagram sure ain't what it used to be. Even Google says so. What do I mean? Just have a read of these two pieces. Take your time. I'll just chill out here with a coffee while you do so.

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Shot:

Google exec suggests Instagram and TikTok are eating into Google’s core products, Search and Maps – TechCrunch

The TikTok threat to Google’s business isn’t just limited to YouTube, as it turns out. Core Google services, including Search and Maps, are also being impacted by a growing preference for social media and videos as the first stop on younger users’ path to discovery, a Google exec …

TechCrunchSarah Perez

Chaser:

Instagram’s trying to make it easier to find nearby businesses

Like Snap Map but for places to eat.

The VergeMitchell Clark

See what's happening here? Instagram has long shifted from a place where you share and enjoy photos, to a place where you consume advertising and buy products and services.

As Sarah Perez wrote for Techcrunch:

The TikTok threat to Google’s business isn’t just limited to YouTube, as it turns out. Core Google services, including Search and Maps, are also being impacted by a growing preference for social media and videos as the first stop on younger users’ path to discovery, a Google exec acknowledged today, speaking at an industry event.

Search is, amongst the younger generations at least, increasingly being relegated to more complex and informational-based serches, while people are turning to their social networks to discover services and products. The map view reported above is just another step in the same direction.

Instagram is for selling stuff

As Om Malik put it, in the subtly titled Instagram is Dead:

What’s left is a constantly mutating product that copies features from “whomever is popular now” service — Snapchat, TikTok, or whatever. It is all about marketing and selling substandard products and mediocre services by influencers with less depth than a sheet of paper.

And then, he goes in with the killer 🔥:

It has become QVC 2.0.

Which is a shame, because those of us who loved it for its photography need to look elsewhere now. But, clearly, if you're using Insta as part of your audience engagement mix, then you need to respond to this new, video-and-sales centric reality.

If you're still doing the same on the 'gram you were five years ago, you're in trouble.