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I have a theory about #Instagram that I’ve had for a long time (as an IG Marketer of 6+ years).
The blog post from @rainylune today (thank you, you lovely frog-illustrating human, for your espionage services) has helped reinforce my theory.
[A thread...]
The blog post from @rainylune today (thank you, you lovely frog-illustrating human, for your espionage services) has helped reinforce my theory.
[A thread...]
I believe Instagram falsely inflates insights (and delays the release of detailed analytics) when rolling out new content features to garner usage and hide true user engagement.
This was true when they introduced IGTV without detailed analytics — just “viewer” count — and then released detailed insights later on to reveal poor viewer retention and watch times across the IGTV format.
This was true with Instagram Stories — detailed insights took sooooo long to release and give users a full picture of their Story analytics.
And I think this is VERY true for Reels. We all know that IG is attempting to take on TikTok with Reels in the same way they attacked Snapchat with Stories. One of the best ways to do it? Trash creators’ engagement until they start using the new feature, falsely inflate...
...metrics by only showing a “views” count without any transparency as to what actually constitutes a “view,” redesign the platform to capitalize on user muscle memory to gain accidental engagement, feature content in the new format throughout the app (in search and feed)...
...and twist the arms of creators to utilize the newly created feature (or risk plummeting engagement). Then, once the new feature has been fully adopted...release detailed insights that show the feature isn’t as engaging as it appeared. Celebrate a new “hit”product. Voila!
Right now we don’t even KNOW what Instagram considers a “view” on Reels. Yet the only metric they are offering is view count. Is a view 50% of the Reel? 10%? 3 seconds? 1/2 second? We don’t know. And we won’t until we’ve been forced to adopt it.
As @rainylune shared — Instagram is virtually holding creators’ engagement hostage unless they create half a dozen Reels per week. Are you fcking kidding me?!
Facebook Inc. has a history of falsifying engagement to force creators to adopt new features. They did it with video years ago. This led to major shifts in journalism and the elimination of hundreds of jobs. https://amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/573403/
Before that it was Pages. Coercing businesses and brands to create and use a Page for their content, giving them massive engagement boosts and helping them gain huge like counts...then the other shoe dropped. And it was pay to play.
I don’t know what the solution is (if any) as we are all kind of beholden to these behemoths. As a creator and marketer, I think it’s valuable to at least know where we stand with our tech overlords. At least we have a glimpse into their mind.
I do think, as I tell my clients, it’s important for creators to not compromise their values and their time simply because a platform wants them to. If creating 5-7 Reels per week is unrealistic or something you don’t want to do...then DON’T!
Reels will be like everything else...the talk of the town for a bit and the flashy new thing...and then it won’t. We can trust #Instagram is already working on something else we don’t want or need (but will be forced to use). 
