Are Photographers Quitting Instagram?

There was a time when visual artists, specifically photographers, predominantly favored Instagram. It was the top photo-sharing app and had some of the most powerful tools that guaranteed photographers a lot of exposure. In fact, some of them built their brands exclusively around Instagram photos and had communities of loyal followers.

Unfortunately, this seems to be changing, and a recent move by the platform has left most photographers disgruntled. Some of them are even quitting the app.

Are Photographers Leaving Instagram?

Yes. Over the past couple of weeks, there has been a drastic change in the way Instagram operates. Photographers are noticing low engagement rates despite having multiple followers, and Sam Binding, a hobbyist photographer, conducted an experiment to confirm his suspicions.

He visited a lavender farm and took a couple of excellent shots, which he posted on his Instagram and Twitter accounts. After two days, he used the platforms' analytic tools to determine his reach and discovered that on Instagram, only around 51% of his followers had viewed his post. On the other hand, Twitter had higher engagement statistics as his images reached more than 5600 people even though he had less than 350 followers.

These low engagement rates are the main reasons why photographers are looking for other platforms to publish their content.

Is Instagram Now Less About Photography?

Instagram seems to be shifting its focus from photos to video content. Adam Mosseri, Facebook's head of Instagram, recently shared on his personal account that the platform was no longer just a photo-sharing app. He highlighted that they were constantly trying to develop more features that would enhance their user experiences and that, at the moment, they would be focusing on four main areas; messaging, shopping, creators, and video content.

Interestingly, when Instagram was first launched in 2010, its primary target audiences were designers and photographers. They even named their first filter X-Pro II in reference to a photo development technique. Now, this has changed. Mossi also highlighted in his post that after extensive research, they realized that most users go on Instagram for entertainment. So, their move towards more video content was only aimed at giving users what they want.

Where Are Photographers Featuring Their Content?

After Sam Moseri made his announcement, photographers were in panic. They realized that their content wouldn't get as much engagement as before and were on the lookout for other platforms where their content would reach more people.

Some of the popular Instagram alternatives include;

  Twitter:  It's a popular platform that gives photographers access to a broad audience and has high engagement rates. Twitter even started allowing full-size image previews in an effort to attract more photographers.

  Gala:  This is the closest alternative to Instagram, and even though it's relatively new, it has most of the photo-sharing features that Instagram is neglecting.

  Reddit:  This may not be one of the regular photo-sharing apps, but it's big on communities, and photographers can easily create a loyal following for their content.

  Flickr:  This was one of the original photo-sharing platforms, and more photographers are rejoining it. It has both free and pro versions, and since its comeback, it also has cloud storage services.

What's the Best Way for a New Photographer to Publish Their Content?

Photographers need to post their work constantly to create a loyal following. They should also have a portfolio where they can showcase their content freely; this way, even when their favorite social media platform pulls an unfavorable move as Instagram did, they will still be covered.