Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them] @hexbear.net

2mo ago

I have Instagram now because my friends demanded it, and holy shit it is so much worse than Tiktok

As a Millennial, one thing I will admit is that Zoomers have better taste than Millennials with social media.

I've used TikTok, and when I did, I would get maybe one advert per hour. Sometimes none at all. The adverts are generally for the same shit you'd get in TV. Not only that, but within minutes the algorithm understood what I did and didn't want to see.

Unfortunately all my friends use Insta and demanded I get it so they can send me shit.

Instagram is fucking trash. I'm getting adverts once every two posts I look at so like once every 30 seconds. That's insane. Not only that, but the quality of these ads is terrible, a lot of it is selling shirts with AI generated art printed on them. Even if they do show me a shop I like, if I look at reviews before buying 100% of the time the reviews are complaining that what they got sent looks nothing like the advert. The algorithm sucks too. It keeps showing me things in languages I don't speak. For some reason it thinks I'm Ukrainian. I've been using this for a month now, why has it not caught on yet?

Why would anyone use this over TikTok? It is literally just advertising with a good video sprinkled in every now and again if you're lucky. I mean, TikTok isn't perfect by any means but at least it isn't that bad.

62 comments

On amazon, for years, their algo has been trying to sell me things i have previously purchased. And not thing you would ever need two of.
Aliexpress is like "oh you looked at a woodworking tool? Okay here's every conceivable accessory for that tool, tools you might use with that tool, supplies for that tool, and if you don't show interest in any of that i'll gradually widen the scope of suggestions and throw in some curveballs."
Like America is not sending their best.
- Yo this would go great in my toilet seat collection
  average Amazon customer
  
  Amazon keeps trying to sell me a Sonic the Hedgehog board game because l bought a IDW Sonic comic on Kindle 5 years ago.
- Yes amazon has been trying to sell me a second of the same router for 2-3 years now.
  Who buys the same consumer router twice?? If I wanted another router I'd buy a newer model at least.
  
  You know what would go great with that TV? Another TV
- I bought a bucket of assorted polyhedral dice for D&D and Amazon spent the next two years recommending bulk teaching aids. Counting cubes, bulk vinyl shapes, number lines, etc.

Why would anyone use this over TikTok?
No autoplay. That's why.
Autoplay is cancer and a violation of my consent.
- I fucking hate that. But I found out you can start the app on mute at least. But once you un-mute, you can't re-mute.

what I don't get about Insta is how unlike 4chan, all your shit is literally far from anonymous, but yet the people there comment the most reactionary, Hitlerite shit that rivals Stormfront/old school 4chan.
Hell - Instagram reels kinda reminds me of 4chan but without its distinct culture and instead of being closeted genius neurodivergent Nazi weeb mass shooter degenerates, they got cringe ass 15 year old teens tryna be edgy saying the same racist shit over and over again
- I wonder if the 4chan beings of yesteryear complain about the kids these days who don't put in the work and just wanna say slurs

instagram was pretty cool like 10 years ago when it was just people sharing square cropped photos with shitty filters. no instagram celebrities. no instagram businesses. no ads. just random people's vacation slides and pet photos and ugly party snapshots.
then zuckerberg bought it and tried to turn it into facebook + ticktok + snapchat. reels. ads. "sponsored content". pay to show your shit to everyone. hashtags became useless because why would you want to view niche or random interesting things when you can look at stuff that someone paid to have show up every time you swipe?

My friends at least know that I am implacable when it comes to my hatred for social media so they don't try to make me use it
I have Facebook, but that's because I mainly got it for messenger
Gotta organize group chats without exchanging phone numbers you know
- Signal let's you do that now but probably not as convenient as fb. You can also sign up with a Google voice number.

I will never use a social media platform that is not primarily text-based.

Why would anyone use this over TikTok?
its the best way I've found to find events and cool groups in my area. like truly countless awesome events, and queer parties and spaces.
- How do you use Insta to find events?
  
  sorry fell asleep. follow leftist and vegan and local queer groups you know of, they often collab with other groups and such . and i follow accounts specifically about things to do in my nearby cities. Many vegan accounts that review vegan places will also promote a lot of veg fest and pop-up shops. and at some point, the algo locked in on what I want and now it brings me cool stuff all the time. also if there's a leftist group you know is legit, see who the account follows. there are often lots of more casual queer/leftist spaces, i don't wanna get to specific in case i self dox lol.
  
  For me its usually that local orgs and groups cross promote each other and their events. There are also region specific accounts that just aggregate events on certain topic.

For those with android, look up a revanced app for android + tiktok build. you can block all the ads and also remove any tiktok shop crap too.
- Yeah? I use Revanced on YouTube and tried it for TikTok, but it doesn't seem to block the ads or shops.
  
  It should add a new settings menu in the app with options

The algorithm also isn't as good, tik tok shows way more interesting and relevant content. It's also easier to get new stuff. Instagram always shows me just the worst garbage I'm not interested in.
And the comments, my god. Rampant bigotry. Tik tok will have some but Instagram is a cesspool.
- I think Tiktok still wants you to see things you want to see, while all the American socials stopped pretending long ago and are just fascism pipelines now.
- Tiktok's algorithm is scary good. When I had an account, I think it took maybe a few days of careful use of the like/follow buttons to train it properly. I have no complaints about Tiktok. The only reason I don't use it is because I'm not personally a fan of short-form video content. I think it's about as non-shitty as a corporate-owned social media platform can get.

Yo btw, Instagram is actually the platform of choice for breakdancers to post their vids, there's A LOT of really sick accounts to follow, it might make your experience better. Here's a small sample:

A lot of those are world champions, Olympic medalists, professional dancers, etc.
- Thank you!

I started a new FB account in an attempt to get engagement to my business and holy shit, same. Meta just seems to be wear social engagement goes to die. It's just thirst bait and rage bait.
I also started a TikTok account and, honestly, it's ok. I'm enjoying it way better than reddit for political discourse, though not as well as on hexbear. The libs still be libbing there so I still get some people crying about Kamala but the commie-tok and neuro-spicy-tok has been really nice. I wanna start adding hobby stuff and see how it goes.
But yeah, Insta and FB are absolute cesspools.
- Its just thirst bait and rage bait.
  Probably the two highest engagement post types sadly.
  
  Yeah it's very much calculated.

The ads are a bit much on Instagram but there are a lot of awesome bakers on there that I follow.
I downloaded Tiktok just to see what all the fuss was about and I just got a bunch of thirst trap content and videos for a nearby tourist destination so I'm not sure if I'm doing it wrong or what.
- Definitely. I've barely used tiktok and it knows to serve me commie and cat vids.
- Eww that's terrible. I'm glad I never got shown stuff like that
- Just swipe quickly on those. Mark "not interested" if a subject is persistent. The algo will figure you out soon enough
  
  Someone else in the thread posted a link to a modded version of Instagram that blocks the ads so I'm gonna go back to my bread videos

This post inspired me to reinstall tiktok even though I’ve never used IG lol
- All the trans girls I follow on tiktok progressed so much from when I last saw them, I’m jealous

My experience of insta was having reel after reel of weird ragebait headline shit and the most depraved comments when all i wanted to do was follow a few trans creators... Promptly deleted it afterwards
- Insta trans stuff is impossibly bad. I literally can't engage with trans content creators because the comments are vile.
  
  Yep the comments on all of the posts are horrific and really upsetting the people on instagram are some of the most hateful and miserable people on the internet

The only reason for Insta is to send Tiktoks to people without Tiktok.

I use the MyInsta mod, it gets rid of the ads. For TikTok there's TikTokModCloud

Have you tried Threads yet?
It’s full of bot posts/repeated posts by different accounts and engagement farmers/rage bait. There’s some good stuff on there, but you have to wade through a lot of the above.

My friends prefer insta and I got bullied into making one too and omg I prefer tiktok as well.
If I have to see one more shitty ad about another c-list influencer trying to shill their mid fast fashion "designs" I'm gunna cry.

are you using reels? that's your problem.
- How do I fucking use this dog shit app then? Why are all these social media things so fuck esoteric with their UI?!
  
  Do not use anything Zuck puts his name to. Insta is hot garbage. Don't use it.

again, the only reason to have instagram is to bully libs in the comments of betoota advocate posts
- I have never read the comments, I hear they're baaaaaaad
- but also, they def made a change in the last year to force more "recommended" posts into your feed of otherwise followed accounts, which then let them force more ads into the feed simultaneously
  on one hand, i see so many cute korean dogs now
  on the other hand, i barely see accounts i follow anymore

Have fun stimming

Mine no longer has a following tab, so it’s pretty useless now

Lol my IG was set to Thai for weeks.

Would using the desktop version with ublock origin in firedox stop the ads? I cut meta completely out of my life this year. Deleted my decade old facebook and that nuked my insta along with it. I never used it though, the last time I logged into it was to congratulate my ex on giving birth to her boy.
- yeah the pwa install w firefox and ublock blocks ads pretty good
- I've never seen an ad on the desktop version

my only exposure to other social media platforms is though the occasional binge of youtube shorts, and just via second hand evidence of the slop thats reuploaded from tik tok and instagram, I have to agree that instagram appears to be flat out radioactive to me. Like a pack of starving wild dogs seem friendlier than instagram.

A lot of orgs (also bookstores that I like) promote their events mainly on insta
- I agree tho that the algorithm and ad parts suck

I created an IG account last month for work because it's the platform my industry expects you to be on. I only use it to keep up with others in my field. Stories pretty much exclusively. If I scroll down at all it's a nightmare.

I don't understand. This post seems premised on the idea that social media platform should be judged on how likely you are to purchase something from ads.
If this is the standard then Lemmy sucks balls. The ads are all for comms and those are free.
- No I'm complaining because there are more ads on Instagram
  The ads being shittier in general is just the insult to injury.

62 comments