<story><title>Instagram influencers: Have we stopped believing?</title><url>https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49450655</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>wcunning</author><text>I hesitate to defend a Facebook property, but here goes anyway...&lt;p&gt;My Instagram feed is 100% welding, machining and a small smattering of woodworking. Literally any project I post gets universally positive feedback, with the occasional constructive suggestion. If I ask for help on a project, I get advice in at most a few hours from someone with 40 years more experience than I have. Contrast this to the forum community for the same thing that has a disturbing tendency to flame out and generally mock newbies.&lt;p&gt;What I take away from this is that Instagram, like all metaphorical tools, is what you make of it. If you only follow beautiful people, you may only get shallow content. If you follow interesting people who share interesting things, you&amp;#x27;ll get interesting content.</text></item><item><author>hiven</author><text>There was a shop that said to influencers they could get a discount only after 30 people used their specific influencer promo code. None of them did (or could do) it.&lt;p&gt;It’s highly ineffective and for the most part it’s just some entitled person with an inflated ego demanding freebies. Madness to think businesses can really believe they are of any real substance or significance.&lt;p&gt;Instagram more and more has become a cesspool of materialism and advertising. It’s hauntingly shallow to witness, and the impact on the younger generation who are trying to “keep up” for their own mental sanity are instead being dragged further and further into it. Instagram isn’t the only offender obviously but I think it is the antithesis of the issue.&lt;p&gt;Having already deleted Facebook, I completely changed up my instagram to show photography photos and things relating to my hobbies, and removed my friends and other “lifestyle” feeds. I can honestly say it felt like an immediate lift of mental 
clarity and happiness. I kept my friendships and have nothing to prove about the way I choose I live my life. No more scrutiny, no more pining after validation, and most of all, a bit of well deserved privacy.&lt;p&gt;Bringing up a child in this vapid and self obsessed culture must be like navigating a minefield.&lt;p&gt;Apologises for the rant. I’m only 29 but I sound like I am 90.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dantondwa</author><text>I agree with you. Instagram is the only social media I still use, and it&amp;#x27;s mainly because it&amp;#x27;s so non-toxic. I mostly see stuff related to my hobbies, some comic stripes, some friends I care about. It&amp;#x27;s by definition a bubble, but it&amp;#x27;s one that is actually chosen by me. Mainly, its pleasantness comes from the sensation of not being inundated by contents, by the lack of importance that comments have, etc. I bet it&amp;#x27;s possible to have a different experience, if I followed influencers and whatnot it would be much worst. However, for how I use it, I don&amp;#x27;t mind it and I actually get to know interesting things.</text></comment>
<story><title>Instagram influencers: Have we stopped believing?</title><url>https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49450655</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>wcunning</author><text>I hesitate to defend a Facebook property, but here goes anyway...&lt;p&gt;My Instagram feed is 100% welding, machining and a small smattering of woodworking. Literally any project I post gets universally positive feedback, with the occasional constructive suggestion. If I ask for help on a project, I get advice in at most a few hours from someone with 40 years more experience than I have. Contrast this to the forum community for the same thing that has a disturbing tendency to flame out and generally mock newbies.&lt;p&gt;What I take away from this is that Instagram, like all metaphorical tools, is what you make of it. If you only follow beautiful people, you may only get shallow content. If you follow interesting people who share interesting things, you&amp;#x27;ll get interesting content.</text></item><item><author>hiven</author><text>There was a shop that said to influencers they could get a discount only after 30 people used their specific influencer promo code. None of them did (or could do) it.&lt;p&gt;It’s highly ineffective and for the most part it’s just some entitled person with an inflated ego demanding freebies. Madness to think businesses can really believe they are of any real substance or significance.&lt;p&gt;Instagram more and more has become a cesspool of materialism and advertising. It’s hauntingly shallow to witness, and the impact on the younger generation who are trying to “keep up” for their own mental sanity are instead being dragged further and further into it. Instagram isn’t the only offender obviously but I think it is the antithesis of the issue.&lt;p&gt;Having already deleted Facebook, I completely changed up my instagram to show photography photos and things relating to my hobbies, and removed my friends and other “lifestyle” feeds. I can honestly say it felt like an immediate lift of mental 
clarity and happiness. I kept my friendships and have nothing to prove about the way I choose I live my life. No more scrutiny, no more pining after validation, and most of all, a bit of well deserved privacy.&lt;p&gt;Bringing up a child in this vapid and self obsessed culture must be like navigating a minefield.&lt;p&gt;Apologises for the rant. I’m only 29 but I sound like I am 90.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>hiven</author><text>Completely agree. I do however think the way the instagram app works you are guided down a path littered with product sales pages, advertising and general mundane materialism. I think at its core this culture is good for their business model.</text></comment>