Instagram wants to dominate your eyes.
Because Instagram sells your views.
They recognize where you are looking through the movement of your fingers or by measuring the time that you spent on the page/post.
So we can say that,
“your view, including your attention and time, is one of Instagram’s products. And unfortunately, you are responsible for this as well.”
And today, Instagram paid posts’ “look at me and see me” scream has become so obvious and unbearable.
Do you feel that someone is interfering with your personal Instagram feed these days more than ever?
Yes, you’re right.
You are exposed to both the posts of people you do not know and advertisements weirdly irrelevant.
There are many reasons behind this disturbance such as “sponsored content, the content that your friend liked, content in partnership, etc.” which are put forward by Instagram
These are actually different short explanations but in reality, these are “Perception-altering actions” masks.
By using these explanations, Instagram tries to convince you that there is nothing weird about your feed and that everything is OK.
Why “Perception-altering actions”?
Because, otherwise, they cannot give priority to the buyer (brands or individuals who are paying for ads on Instagram) but they have to.
Here is how they give priority to the buyer:
“Since you are on Instagram, you will first look at the content of the buyer. Kind of like an entrance fee. To enter this world, you should pay, and you can pay by your views. Some kind of barter. ”
It’s not over.
If they couldn’t find a way to make you see the paid (buyer’s) content, you are drawn into a tunnel with a magnet at the bottom. This tunnel is created to bring together you and the paid content. It’s impossible not to be drawn into this tunnel.
This is not tiktoking the Instagram, this is the reflection of “let’s sell everything as long as we reach the goal” psychology.
This is exactly where traditional media and social media are separated.
➡️Advertisements can never be broadcast arbitrarily on TV or Radio. It’s illegal.
➡️Ofcom rules allow eight minutes of advertising per hour during prime-time television on public service channels, including those run by ITV and Channel 4, which can increase to up to 12 minutes.
What about social media?
I can’t see any “realistic” limit or regulation.
In other words,
“Instagram places the paid seats in front of the free seats, and we are all watching the buyers’ heads instead of the screen.”
This is what we experienced.
This is why, while we thought we were watching the lives of family, friends, and some celebrities, we are exposed to paid contents
Conclusion?
There are 3 possibilities:
- We will drown in exposure and become blind because our brains won’t accept visuals as information anymore (déjà vu)
- Instagram will be shelved like Facebook.
- Instagram – which will die when meta enters the system – will make the biggest money just before its funeral.
It’s time to upgrade the marketing strategy by covering all media platforms, without prioritizing social media.
Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash
