I think the single best change Instagram done in a decade is the "ad break" that happens once you've scrolled through enough posts, which stops you for N seconds to stare at some random ad. I think I can scroll through 2-3 posts before my scrolling gets locked, and I close the app, and now I barely scroll Instagram at all anymore. Thank you Instagram!

Tobacco exec says smoking falls by half with low-nicotine cigs.

"Adam Mosseri has warned that users who switch off Instagram’s recommendation system end up with a worse experience, telling an Australian press briefing that engagement can fall by as much as 50% and that satisfaction scores fall off a cliff." - Well, isn't this just that we fear from technology... that the makers of their social media applications feel that their products are simply there to create our experiences?

Well, I have news for you. Social media creates nothing. It lives by getting us to not act... to sit in a mind-numbing silent purgatory, voyeuristically watching the fictitious 3rd-person accounts of the subjective experience of others... as the synchronisation of our genetic inner core with the paths we take in the social realm becoming less and less harmonious... since because of social media we take less paths... since you know... we don't act.

So if the addiction from the behavioural algorithms is all you have to engage with your users, why aren't you classed as drug suppliers?

I have often argued for it on here, but I want eg the EU to ban these kinds of recommender algorithm's. It’s all about weaponizing your nervous system against you just to show ads. If we ban it tomorrow society literally becomes better not worse. Why do American big tech companies have the “right” to cook our brains? It affects our politics, our relationships, etc

Bluesky likely knows this problem well. The pro is that I never find myself stuck there. The con is that I just end up somewhere else (including this orange website). Time to ctrl-w.

I don't know what the right balance is, but there should be some sort of friction. Feeds shouldn't be infinitely scrollable, for instance, and users could be made explicitly aware of how much time they're spending.

Some people think this should all fall back on personal responsibility, but the way I see it, introducing highly addictive algorithms should've been regulated the same way adding addictive chemicals to food is.

>> If you go to a chronological feed, it ends up getting overwhelmed with content from companies, brands, and publishers

Not if you unsubscribe from companies, brands, and publishers. You're welcome.

For a lot of people that's a good thing

I have started to like the algorithms. What I do want is an option to switch to plain old feed which twitter now offers.

Only problem with algorithm is that it is prone to occasional slips where you open a random cat video (or any other bait) and your recommendations start showing that more often, you keep clicking those and before you know it your recommended feed is full of that.

But if you know how to tame the algorithm for only the content you are interested in, it is amazing. I like my twitter, youtube and insta recommendations and have discovered many new creators who I wouldn't have otherwise.

cue the smallest sad violin

Snarky reaction aside, and actually reading the article, it says that the problem is something along the lines of "we incentivized and rewarded business accounts to post large volumes, so now if you switch to chronological order you will see more of these posts which reduces user satisfaction".

Well, that just means that the company will have to adapt before their users start unfollowing spammy accounts and the whole "influencer" business takes a hit. Though tbh, not sure how much of a hit it could take but hey, when instagram says engagement falls, I allow myself to feel optimistic for a brief moment.

Only half? That's sort of depressing.

Monetization is down when content isn't force-fed to users. Give this guy a raise.

> engagement falls by half without the algorithm

Good?

I honestly only have these apps to see what my friends posted. I know they aren't likely to do it, but it would be lovely to have the friends-only view back by default in every meta app

"Mosseri is not arguing that a chronological feed harms users. He is arguing that it produces less engagement and less time on the platform."

Seems like a great outcome, right?

This shows us that Instagram still has a viable business without the algorithm.

Falling by half sounds like a lot, but the glass-half-full read of that is that it means "Instagram would still be incredibly popular without its algorithm."

Governments should start taxing short form video. If the companies want to make money off of people's time and engagement, it is only fair that governments get a cut. I propose 2 cents per short video.

A great start and a major win for humanity. Halfway there!

Just charge double per view, there will be pressure for competition which is sorely needed in the ads business

Same probably goes for slot machines if you strip them of all the bright, flashy colours and comforting sounds and make it a black metal box, with only a number display.

Its almost like... it was inherently designed to be as addictive as possible?

I don't get how instagram is as popular as it is. I made an account last week to try to look for pictures from an event I recently attended.

First I was incredibly surprised and frustrated that their search functionality is effectively nonexistent, then, when I gave up and scrolled, if I tapped on a post to look closer, I had to deal with it interrupting whatever I was listening to.

Then, cherry on top of the shit cake, they suspended my account unless I did some video ID process. Nope, not happening.

Instagram felt like a more invasive and hostile user experience than any social media I've used before.

Yeah, we know! That’s the problem!

Plenty of comments here saying what we're all thinking, so I THINK this is an appropriate thread to share my app which specifically removes the ads and algorithm and only shows posts from the profiles you follow.

https://narro.info

> Users miss more content and spend less time on the platform.

And what is the effect of this on the user?

Oh right, you don't care.

For me this guy is directly repsonsible of all the negative side effects of this attention grabbing engangement BS and he should go to jail for that.

>Children will be smoking less if you don't offer them cigarettes

That's great, does he have any other good news to share with us?

Everyone loves to hate the algorithm but this is obvious

Because people are lazy, they feed on feed.

Good stuff ! When’s it going to prod ?

They don't know that.

You can't currently turn off the algorithm in Instagram.

This person is talking nonsense.

Same with HN and its LLM powered comments script they run internally

So not having an algorithm cuts engagement by ONLY half? How can that not be a good thing? Just remove it and save all the headaches for your service, ranging from user addiction to regulatory pressure. Let people engage however much they want.

"The brands and publishers’ point is the stronger half, and it deserves engaging with. "

Just one example. It's odd to me that people are willing to put their own byline on obvious slop.

Good!

Is that supposed to be bad?

Good?

Good!

That's the point.

Engagement ~= addiction. Just a more euphemistic framing.

Good

good. let it fall.

And purchases fall by half if you put milk at the entrance of the grocery store. Nothing of value is lost by letting people go through less slop to get to what they want to see.

This guy thinks feeds will be dominated by brands posting multiple times per day. People will unsubscribe from brands that post what they don't want to see. It's a self correcting problem.

Cry me a river, seriously.