Wednesday 27 January 2016

7 Reasons I Dislike Instagram



I LOVE Instagram; it has to be my favourite of all of my Social Media accounts.

Since spending time getting to grips with it I have felt much more comfortable using it. I love “just popping” onto it and having a quick peak to see what everyone has been up to. When I say “quick” admittedly I spend a fair bit of time having a nose at everyone’s pictures. It gives you some great ideas for activities for children, can brighten up moods with cute and funny photos and possibly my favourite reason: pictures of mouth-watering food!

All this being said there are elements that I dislike about it too.

1. Terminology

It really annoys me when people use the wrong terminology. I understand that with all the different types of social media available that it can be difficult to keep up with the different types of words used but take some time to use the correct terms.
I don’t have a Page I have a Gallery! Instagram is a place for pictures and photos therefore it is a Gallery not a page. You wouldn’t go to an Art Gallery and call it a museum would you?

2. Bad Photos
Admittedly I have been known to do this on very rare occasions but it really annoys me to see loads of poor quality photos on my feed. I am not a photographer and I only use my phone to take pictures so the definition and quality will never be 100% but I don’t tend to put photos on that are difficult to see. I understand that it should be and instant photo but how am I meant to like it if the lighting is poor; the same can be said about blurry photos too.

3. Unfollowers
Like any social media account you will find that there are some people that you like more than others and therefore you interact with them regularly. If, after some time, you decide that you don’t really like someone on your feed and you decide that you want to unfollow them then that is perfectly acceptable. What annoys me is the people who come and follow you, like 10 of you gallery photos and then instantly unfollow you because they want to create a high and interactive following. I am not 5 years old, I don’t want to play a game of “it”.

4. Unbalanced Accounts
You have just gained a new follower and they have just back-liked quite a few of your photos and you think “Oh, how fab, this user has given me some Instalove. I will go and check them out” but when you do you find that they have 17k followers and are following 273 people. Yes, this makes me want to follow you because I know in an hour you’ll probably unfollow me. We all want more followers and high interactions but there must be a point where you realise that you are just using people?

5. Wraps



This is a straightforward one. I hate the Wraps people. No, I don’t want a DM message asking to be part of your team. No, I am not interested in your products and I definitely don’t want a wrap. Okay, that’s a lie, I do want a wrap…..but I want this kind!



Now please stop selling things to me, I want to get fat!
6. Pretending you’re a Parent

This, again, links to the previous point. Oh I have a new follower how fab! I need to request them to follow them back, let’s have a quick look at their profile…..aw they’re a Mum and they have children the same age as the boys. Ok, I will request. What? Bloody Hell they’re Wrap people!  Stop pretending to be parents and tricking me into buying things!
7. People who buy followers!

You look at a user’s account and you see that they have 14.5k worth of followers and you think that they must be popular! Yet, when you look at the gallery you see that they have no more than 16 likes per photo! What’s that about?  You may also notice that you have been following them for 9 months and their followers number has never changed; even through with organic growth you should gain around 500 users per year if you are a popular Instagram account especially if you’re part of a community like a lot of bloggers are. The reason the number hasn’t changed is that once you buy them the number stays at that rate. The interactions are small because they have few real users to interact with.
Proof of this is when you see fabulous Instagram users with 7k following and have 400 – 500 likes! What is worse is that you know they, off the back of this, have higher ranking in different score charts like tots100 due to their followers number.

I will still continue to love Instagram but I will be a bit more selective with who I am following if this happens a lot!

Do you have things that annoy you on there?

36 comments:

Vicky Charles said...

Brilliant post!
I don't mind the wrap people as long as they're posting quality content more than saggy bellies. The unfollowing etc really bothers me too - it's like people think they get a prize if they have the most followers. I think certain network marketing companies tell their people: go onto Instagram and follow people, then send them a DM sayingXXXX" and they all just follow the formula exactly. They forget that for every customer they get, they piss off about 100.

Simon (Man vs. Pink) said...

On No. 4 - unbalanced accounts. Mine is completely like this, about 9:1, but I only follow people who I want to see photos from (like your good self Martyn). So while I have way more followers than I follow, that's not because I'm gaining followers in an underhand way.

Amy Treasure said...

This this this!!!!!

Hell no to the crazy wrap people and the ones that unfollow you as soon as you follow them.

As for the people with a suspect amount of followers this one really bugs me, are people really that sad that they BUY followers, and you're right you can spot them a mile off. I'd be so embarrassed if that was me and everyone knew it! It's very annoying for those of us that work our butts off on Instagram...

Featuring on my BM round-up obvs ;-)

Emily and Indiana said...

Ah the wrap people! Drives me insane haha. I don't understand buying followers either. What's the point as the whole point is to share your pictures with people, not fake numbers xx

Natalie Streets said...

Wraps! Argh. And juice plus! GO AWAY! I'M HAPPY WITH MY ROLLS!

Another thing that annoys me is photos with no comment/description, and when someone uploads 6 of the same photo. At the same time. It's like being forced to watch a roll of someone's holiday photos or baby pics...

Sabrina said...

Thank goodness I have yet to encounter the wrap people.

Unknown said...

Arrgh the wraps and the bloody juice plus, nope!! Your post has made me realise I do need to be more active over there, I am a bit of a photo dumper & run...

Sarah Burns said...

I've somehow managed to avoid the wraps people! the people who follow and unfollow drive me nuts too x

Alan said...

Thanks for sharing this Mr K. I've met the wraps people. But was blissfully unaware of those follower/unfollow types.

I'll have to have an Instagram audit. I'll check my GALLERY for poor quality photos too.

Katy said...

I love Instagram - it's my favourite social media platform :) I must be very lucky not to have encountered the wrap people, although I've certainly been followed by a few juicers, but the Unfollowers are my big bug bear! I'd like to think that if I follow someone, I'll stick with them, and so I used to take it quite personally ('what could have been offensive about my last photo?!') until I realised 'the game'.

Plutonium Sox said...

Great post, and you know how I feel about the unfollowers and more particularly the ones who buy followers. Makes me furious. I just hope they soon get found out - and overtaken in follower numbers by genuinely good instagrammers too of course ;)

Random Musings said...

Yes to all of these (although I am guilty of posting less than perfect photos!). I haven't had much dealings with the wraps people, maybe because I don't follow them back and tend to leave sarcastic replies to their comments ;) If someone unfollows me because they aren't liking my content, fine, if they unfollow me to make themselves look more popular that really makes me feel sorry for them. How low does your self esteem have to be that you do that?
Thanks for hosting #blogstorm and thanks for choosing my trolls post to be featured :)
Debbie

Hannah said...

Oh the bloody wrap people sod off! I hate them, I often look and see kids and other stuff follow then it's wham! Wrap girl! Urgh. Bed photos big me everywhere less than perfect, fine but blurry dark why?
I see you liking my English breakfasts, good man :-p

Hannah said...

*bad photos bug me* sorry mix of tiredness and phone being a spoon

Martyn Kitney said...

I think you're right with the managers giving out a set formula and with that people go along with it without thing. They definitely alienate more than they get

Martyn Kitney said...

That's fair enough but I think I meant the ones that are more 17k to 200. And then they back like to get you interested to then unfollow you at a later date.

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks Amy. I've never understood the buying of followers. It's false and blatant and worse when ranks don't see it. I would find it embarrassing too. But I'm happy to work hard for it.

Martyn Kitney said...

I agree. It's meant to be social media and to interact not make yourself look good

Martyn Kitney said...

Hahaha I'm happy with my rolls :')

Yes! I had that but took it out....maybe I'll include it in a part 2

Martyn Kitney said...

Oh I'm sure you will at some point! They're everywhere

Martyn Kitney said...

I don't think it matters. Most people dump and run. Which I don't mind. I only interact a bit.

Martyn Kitney said...

The follow unfollow people are a nightmare. So pointless

Martyn Kitney said...

Ooo lucky you not to have the Unfollowers. Ha good use of gallery ;)

Martyn Kitney said...

The game is frustrating. I hate it and it seems so pointless to do!

Martyn Kitney said...

Thanks Nat. You're right it's annoying but good instagrammer will over take them and highlight the fake part.

Martyn Kitney said...

Haha sarcastic comments I should do this! I've posted less than perfect photos too. I don't use a proper camera or have time to find perfection. I think the Unfollowers for popularity are just sad!

Martyn Kitney said...

I get annoyed because you're right kids do follow them. It's a poor example! And yes to the dark photos. Low level fine but don't post something no one can see.

Haha I'm always liking food photos

Jenni said...

Haha these are all so true, number 3 and 5 especially - so annoying!!

Emma T said...

I so agree with all of these. I also won't follow people who have massively differing follower/following count. With those while their feeds are generally gorgeous, they're unlikely to ever respond to my comments, or come and visit my feed. It's still a community, or meant to be.

One of my annoyances is private profiles. I won't follow those unless I know them from other social media/blogs or real life, because they obviously don't really want people seeing their photos. Then as you say they could be trying to sell you something.

I'm also not keen on business accounts. I want to see personal stuff not selling items (although some are extremely pretty, they're just all the same.

And another of my dislikes is quotes. Just galleries of quotes. And a whole instagram of blog post headers. Grrr, if you're on IG it's meant to be photos.

Having said that. I do love it.

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