I ain't gonna post on Instagram no more
I really enjoyed using Instagram. I like the filters, and I like the square format, and I like the way you can instantly share the photo to Twitter when you post it. But I'm going to stop posting to it, for two main reasons.
Firstly, Instagram pictures no longer display in-line in Twitter. I originally assumed this was Twitter's decision to cut off Instagram; but it turns out it was Instagram's choice. Instagram wants more traffic to its own website, so they disabled Twitter cards, which allowed display of its pictures next to tweets. The idea is that people will now have to click on the link to get to an Instagram photo, thus sending traffic to Instagram. I think this will backfire. An extra click puts another barrier between the user and the content. Instagram decided that the extra click is worth it for the advertising potential, and they won't play nice with Twitter. Strike one against Instagram.
Strikes two and three are combined into Instagram's newly announced policy changes. Instagram announced it will change its old terms of service into its upcoming new terms of service on Jan 16th. Their new terms made it sound a lot like using Instagram in any form would mean "you agree that a business or other entity may pay [Instagram] to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you". In fact this is exactly what it said, with the word "us" replaced by "[Instagram]" for clarity. This made a lot of people very angry. That low murmur you hear outside is the sound of people upset by this policy change.
Some people didn't just murmur - in fact they wrote, and eloquently too. See for example Matt Honan and Wil Wheaton's opinion pieces. Big news media covered it; The BBC and the New York Times both published stories on it. Especially influential was this CNET story. Then The Verge wrote that everyone should calm down, for heaven's sake. And finally, Instagram itself responded, saying that "legal documents are easy to misinterpret", and that they're not going to sell your photos or use them in ads.I'm willing to believe that Instagram doesn't have immediate plans to this effect. But the fact that Instagram is now owned by Facebook makes me think twice, not about the specific policy changes but about the change of direction they signal. I loathe what Facebook has been doing with their advertising, where they imply endorsement of a brand by putting your profile picture next to an ad. Not only can this lead to unexpected results, but it is simply wrong to assume that posting about something implies endorsement. Basically, I don't trust Facebook, and so I'm cagey about what I post there. That Instagram appears to be considering similar tactics, and that it's owned by Facebook, means I feel like I can't trust it any more. So, I'm going to stop posting photos to Instagram.
Luckily for everyone except Instagram, these moves couldn't have come at a better time. Just a few days ago, Flickr released their updated iPhone app, and it is, in a word, awesome. It's true that its filters aren't quite as good as Instagram's, but you can much more powerfully edit photos, share them to Twitter and have them show in your stream, and browse other peoples photos. Flickr also lets you choose what license to grant to your photos. The only downer is that it currently doesn't separate iPhone photos from the rest of your photo stream. So far I have kept my iPhone photos in Instagram and my Big Camera photos in Flickr. Until Flickr adds an option to separate them, I'll just tag my iPhone photos with "mobile" and let them mingle with the snobby 5DMkII photos; they'll just have to get on.
Interestingly, I feel like this could be a turning point for both Instagram and Flickr. Remember back in the day, Flickr was the place to put photos? Then it fell out of favour, mostly because it didn't embrace social media and portable apps well. Its new iPhone app addresses that problem in a big way. And, given that Flickr was once cool, then was uncool, then became cool again, it is now perfect for hipsters. As for Instagram, it was all about social media and only accessible through a mobile app. But now it's moving towards a web interface as well, it's shut itself out of Twitter streams, and I feel that its policy changes herald a change of direction towards Facebook-style advertising. As a result, I'm off. I'll see you on Flickr.